You'd go out with Remus Lupin, right?
by takethefirewhiskyandrun
Summary: "Of course they'd like you! They just haven't had a chance to get to know you because you're so shy." I felt Sirius nudge my leg under the table warningly but I ignored it. "Look, I'll prove it!" I exclaimed, staring down the table. "What…no, wait!" Remus said in alarm. "Hey! You!" I said, pointing at a girl who was staring at us. "You'd go out with Remus Lupin, right?"
1. I hated being called dramatic

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter characters or universe._

_A/N: I had never really thought about writing a Remus/OC story before because I wholeheartedly support his canon pairing with Tonks. But, I was recently re-reading the extra stuff JK Rowling wrote about Remus on Pottermore and the description of the scene where he and Tonks get together gave me my prompt for this story. In particular - it was the line where Remus says of Sirius, "He always got the women". To you Bottle-Specs readers, I'm still going to post the Lily spin-off, but right now this is the plot that's been inspiring me, so I hope you'll enjoy - it's quite different from anything else you've read from me.  
_

_Anyway - here goes!  
_

* * *

**You'd go out with Remus Lupin, right?**

Chapter One: I hated being called dramatic

"Just leave me alone," I sighed, pulling my hand free from his and continuing down the corridor at what I hoped was a normal and non-dramatic pace. I was so sick of being dramatic and loud and causing a scene because of him. He _always _did this. Every time I turned my bloody back he seemed to be flirting with someone else. There were only so many times I could let myself go through this.

"Kate, please will you stop running?" Sirius asked, clutching at a stitch in his side as he fell back in step with me.

"I'm not running. I'm walking at a brisk pace," I replied, hurrying up the staircase and adjusting the strap on my bag so it wouldn't fall off my shoulder.

"Yes! You are. I've been running after you since the Quidditch Pitch and I'm_ tired," _he groaned. "James had us flying up and down the length of the Pitch for hours."

"Oh cry me a river," I muttered, turning sharply and almost losing him. He had to double back and change direction but as always, he managed to keep up. I could start sprinting but that would have meant more theatrics and I was _really_ trying to stop all that.

"We were just talking. She was saying she liked my bat and I was only being polite," he continued to blabber.

"Yes, I'm sure she loved your bat."

He laughed and I sighed as we finally reached the hallway I'd been searching for. Just ten more feet and I would be rid of the ponce.

"I was just trying to be nice!" he said, once again grabbing my wrist.

I fought not to shriek. I took a nice calming breath and looked at him coolly.

"Sirius, if I have to hear about you 'being nice' one more time, I might lose my head and start shooting off Unforgivables at random. So _please_, just leave me alone."

"You are being so melodramatic right now," he said in frustration, running his hands through that gorgeous mass of hair. Urghh. I hated being called dramatic! I'd hardly ever been described as dramatic before I started going out with him. Okay, maybe once or twice – but never as bad as now. _He_ made me this way – he made me an insane person who ran through hallways threatening to curse everyone in my way.

"Go away!" I exclaimed again, finally reaching the handle to my safe haven and throwing open the doors. He followed me in, obviously distracted enough to forget where I was leading him.

"You are IMPOSSIBLE!" he yelled before shutting his mouth tightly. I bit back a laugh as we looked at the curious faces staring at us from around the Library. There. That would teach him for calling me dramatic – now _he_ looked like the bloody drama queen.

"Ah," he said smiling sheepishly, sticking his hands in his pockets and throwing me a glare.

"You!" Pince was stalking towards us now, thankfully ignoring me because her eyes were fixed on Sirius beside me. He looked slightly alarmed and grimaced at me again as I smiled.

"OUT!" she yelled, angrily shoving me out of the way and pushing against his chest. She looked very small next to him, but even so, her strength was impressive as Sirius muttered and backed away to the exit.

"But Miss…I have an essay…" he was saying as she pushed him through the doors and out of the Library. I breathed a sigh of relief and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear as I sent the watching crowd an awkward grin. I put a finger to my lips and tiptoed to the tables in the back, thanking my lucky stars for the Library. Sirius had been banned from it since the first week of term, so it was quite literally the only place I could escape him, save the girls' bathrooms or dormitories. Even those, I'm sure he could easily find a way in to. Thank Merlin for Pince and her vendetta against him.

Remus and Peter were sitting at the table all the way in the back with their books spread all over the table. They were grinning at me knowingly however, and I tried to look calm and collected as I took a seat and banged my bag on to the last empty chair. And then, I slammed my forehead down hard on to the table. So much for not being dramatic. I could hear the two boys chuckling and I groaned in to the wood.

"Stop laughing."

"Was that Sirius?" Peter asked, when I sat up.

"Course it was," Remus said, shaking his head and turning a page in his textbook. "Why do you think she looks like a tomato right now?"

"Why are you friends with that idiot?" I said, angrily pulling my own book out of my bag. "Honestly, he has to be the most self-absorbed, oblivious, insensitive prick I have ever known."

"It's a good thing you're going out with him then," Remus smiled, writing some more words on his parchment and mostly ignoring me.

"It's only because you're going out with him that you think that," Peter said. "Mostly he's the best."

I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed. "Oh why don't you marry him?"

Peter rolled his eyes and went back to work while Remus chuckled.

"Peter's right you know. He is decent most of the time. Even you know that," he said.

I wanted to throw my inkbottle at him. Of course I knew that. I got along perfectly well with Sirius until we started going out at the end of last year. It was only once I was his girlfriend that things got complicated.

"Well I'm not going out with him now and as far as I can tell, he's still a self-centered, DIS–"

"We get it Kate!" Remus said, exchanging a look with Peter, who put a finger by his head and moved it in circles. I stuck my tongue out at him childishly.

"Do you know what he was doing?" I asked, grabbing Remus' quill so he couldn't pretend to work again.

"Flirting with some other girl?" Remus asked lightly, stretching his arms over his head.

"You heard?"

He chuckled and pulled his quill from my grasp. "Kate, I've had this conversation with you a hundred times. Before you started dating him, after you started dating him…"

"After you broke up over the summer," Peter put in.

Remus nodded. "After you got back together. Honestly, I could have this conversation with you in my sleep."

"I think everyone could," Peter said.

I glared at the two of them as they got back to work and twirled my quill between my fingers. They were so annoying. And right, obviously. But still! At least if it were Lily or Dorcas they would pretend to feel bad for me for like five minutes. Being friends with blokes wasn't the same – especially not these blokes. They made light of everything – which was shocking considering how much drama they'd caused in my life since I'd become friends with them.

It had actually started with Remus. Lily, Dorcas and I had just been on civil terms with the four Gryffindor boys in our year. Not enemies, not friends – just classmates. James had a huge crush on Lily for all of last year, but she had always thought he was too arrogant to ever consider him anything but an annoyance. Plus, he had a habit of bullying her then-mate Severus Snape. Dorcas and I hadn't fought with them the same way as Lily did, but we also didn't pay them much notice. And we were probably the only girls in the school who didn't. The girls in the years below us were obsessed – followed them around like they were a gift from Morgana herself. The older students were less enthusiastic – but even they liked the Marauders because frankly, they were fun. They pulled off amusing jokes when they weren't being bullying berks and had a reputation for throwing the best after-Quidditch parties ever.

Remus had always been the only one Lily could stand, since they were Prefects together and so, sometimes he did homework with us while the others were off gallivanting or causing trouble or whatever. And then Remus and I had discovered our mutual love for The Ghouls. Since Lily was a Muggleborn and Dorcas' idea of good music was Celestina Warbeck, they didn't know about the band, so Remus was the first person I knew who liked more than just their mainstream stuff. We spent hours discussing the progression between their records and writing bad songs based on their styles late in to the night. Neither of us could sing, but that didn't matter – we had a blast coming up with odd bits of poetry and giant schemes to follow the band on tour over the summer. We became oddly close very quickly, the way you never expect to with someone new, but soon I considered him to be a friend in the same league as Dorcas and Lily. I wasn't sure he felt quite the same about me – after all, the Marauders were mysteriously overprotective of one another. You got the feeling they'd take an Avada for each other – and although that seemed nice in theory, I wasn't entirely sure I would be brave enough to do the same with my friends.

And then because I was spending all this time with Remus, suddenly his friends were interested in me too. Sirius, who I'd always seen as a bit of a moody head case, actually turned out to be much more hilarious than I'd realized. And although Remus had most definitely become a close friend, Sirius and I had started to flirt. We were both a little too loud and inappropriate for poor Remus – the things that made him blush and mumble made Sirius and I laugh hysterically and after a bit of beating around the bush – he'd asked me out right before OWLs. We'd had a few blissful months before I went to visit him at James' over the summer and I'd gone out to a nightclub with the four of them. That's when it started – the flirting with the other girls and the lame excuses. We broke up and I spent two weeks crying before he turned up on my doorstep a week before we were due back at Hogwarts. Since my parents were out of town and my sister was at some ridiculously swotty conference for future leaders, we'd spent two days making up and were strong as ever by the time we got back to Hogwarts. And then it happened again. We were full to the brim of drama, but there was also a lot of heat between us and no matter how much I knew we _shouldn't_ be together – we still kept getting back together. So, I really couldn't blame Remus, or Peter, or Lily or anyone for rolling their eyes when I complained about him. They were used to it by now.

"What are you working on then?" I said, kicking Remus under the table.

"Defence."

"Can I copy?" I grinned.

"No," he said, rolling his eyes and turning a page in his textbook. "You'll never learn anything if you always copy off Lily and I."

"Lily never lets me copy either," I said, folding my arms. "Being friends with the two of you is like being friends with Albus and Minerva."

He laughed. "I didn't know you were on a first name basis."

"Oh yeah, just yesterday we met up at The Three Broomsticks and painted each other's toenails," I said, still twirling my quill in my hand. "Speaking of…what are you lot doing for Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Remus shrugged and glanced at Peter who was drawing a diagram with his tongue between his teeth.

"Not sure – I guess now that you and Sirius are broken up, we'll probably have a bloke's day."

"Yeah, firewhisky!" Peter said, not looking up from his drawing.

"Well I guess the girls and I will be having a hen night then," I said. "Want to come?"

The two boys looked at me blankly and I laughed. Sometimes I just couldn't stop the words before they left my mouth. Remus and Peter once again exchanged a look of disdain before returning to their work. Feeling more annoyed than ever, I started to drum a random beat on the table and practiced my whistling. I was useless at it – I could hardly make a sound come out, but Remus had attempted to teach me last week and now I was at least capable of making breathy high pitched squeaks from time to time.

I heard Peter slam his book shut and Remus sigh and when I looked back at them, they were both putting their things into their bags. Had they finished their essays already? I wondered if Remus might let me read through his just to get an idea of what I was doing. He was alarmingly organized and Peter looked impatient as Remus sorted through his rolls of parchment and put them neatly in his bag.

"We're going to the Common Room," he finally said as he slung his bag on to his shoulder and looked down at me. "Want to come?"

"Have you finished the Defence homework already?"

Peter clicked his tongue and Remus smiled patiently. "I can't get any work done while you're practicing whistling. Honestly Kate, you sound like a dying bird."

"Yes, come to the common room where it'll be loud enough to drown you out," Peter said. "It's just embarrassing here."

"But _he'll_ probably be there," I sighed. "And if no one will let me copy, I should probably work on my essay."

Peter harrumphed and waved goodbye, leaving Remus to shake his head in that wise and condescending way of his.

"You are hopeless," he said, nudging my knee. "Work on the essay in the common room. And work it out with Sirius. I can't handle his moaning on top of yours."

"Hey! Didn't you say you might ask Emmeline to Hogsmeade? What happened there?" I asked as I picked up my bag and deflected his comment about the prat.

He shrugged. "I don't know. She used to go out with him – he might be mad."

I laughed and shook my head as we made our way out of the Library. I pointedly ignored Madam Pince because I was almost sure if she recognized me, she'd ban me too.

"He doesn't care enough to be mad," I laughed. "You and I could start snogging right now and he probably still wouldn't care."

When he didn't answer, I turned to see him blushing and immediately felt bad. I frequently forgot that he didn't like to discuss snogging or anything like that out loud. He was far too proper, or shy, or whatever. Sometimes I wondered if he'd actually ever snogged _anyone_, but I didn't want to ask – it would've embarrassed him. Remus was the sweetest, gentlest, most chivalrous bloke I knew, but he was also so innocent, it was silly. He blushed every time he walked in on Sirius and I kissing in their dormitory, and it had happened at least twelve times already. Still, he had a great sense of humour and was certainly good-looking, so I wondered if the only thing holding him back from getting a girlfriend was his self-esteem. I had no idea why he was so self deprecating all the time – maybe because he was ill frequently or was often overshadowed by Sirius and James. But we were going to be of age soon and if he didn't get himself some experience soon, I was starting to think that I'd need to take matters in to my own hands. If there was anyone who deserved happiness, it was Remus.

When we got to the Common Room, the ridiculous prat was lounging by the fire watching James and Peter play Snap with a broody expression on his face. I nodded goodbye to Remus and headed to Lily and Dorcas without looking back at the sofas by the fire. My friends looked like they were working on the Defence essay, so I got my book out and pretended to read, hoping I'd be able to get them to talk through some of the main points.

"So, you two broke up again?" Lily said without looking up from the page she was reading.

Dorcas scratched her head with her quill. "Hang on, weren't you already broken up?"

"No," Lily replied, shaking her head. "Remember, they made up over the summer? There was that fight last week, but they worked it out."

"Ah yes, sorry!" Dorcas smiled at me. "I can't keep up with you two."

I rolled my eyes and wrote my name at the top of my scroll of parchment. Hmm. What next? I underlined my name and wrote the date beside it.

"Stop making us sound like we break up every day. Obviously, we don't break up every day. Sometimes we fight every day, but we don't _always_ break up. We're not that ridiculous," I said, sneaking a peek at the top of Dorcas' essay and starting to reword her first sentence.

"Yeah, I suppose the very dramatic announcements of another break up threw us off," Lily said, leaning back and stretching like a cat. I made a face at my parchment and subtly tried to move Dorcas' essay to face me.

"Kate, I'm doing the Transfiguration homework," she laughed, snatching her parchment away from me.

Oh sod it. I growled as I crossed out my sentence and looked at the Defence textbook. Now I'd actually have to put some effort in. It's not that I wasn't capable of writing my essay by myself – I was just so lazy! And I also had the idiot on my mind.

"Kate, can we talk now?" Sirius asked, his voice full of that annoying, attractive smugness.

"Well, I don't know about you…but I have been able to talk for over fifteen years – longer maybe. I was an early developer," I said snippily, concentrating on writing my first sentence.

"Yeah, I remember noticing," Sirius said slyly, and even as my friends groaned, I couldn't help but fall in to a grin.

"Go away," I said, forcing a frown back on my face. "You're not funny."

"Why don't you both go away so we can get some work done?" Lily said, elbowing me hard and forcing me to almost fall from my chair. Sirius, of course caught me in that irritating, gallant way of his. He flicked the lock of hair off his eyes and I held back a sigh. Why did he have to look so good all the time?

"Come on," he whispered, our fingers locking together as he stared in to my eyes.

I never did have much will power.

We'd been snogging in his bed for almost an hour before the boys interrupted us.

"AGHH My eyes!" James shrieked like a five-year-old.

Sirius sat in front of me so I could straighten my shirt and I laughed as I saw James covering his eyes, Remus blushing and looking at the floor and Peter staring openly.

"Oh take a picture, Peter!" I said, fluffing up my hair and settling back against Sirius' pillows. He joined me, throwing an arm over my shoulders and kissing my temple.

Peter stuck his tongue out at me and disappeared in to the bathroom while James made his way to his bed beside Sirius' and flopped down on to his back.

"We'll come back," Remus spluttered awkwardly. Aw, he looked so sweet trying not to look. Not like that lecher Peter.

"Nah mate, we're done," Sirius said stretching.

"Ugh you pig," I said, shrugging his arm off my shoulder and grimacing as he laughed.

"So Kate, Lily said she's going to Hogsmeade with someone already, any clue who it is?" James asked casually, rolling on to his side to look at me.

"Hmm…might be Amos Diggory. Or Timothy White. Oh wait, maybe Charlus Doxy," I said, playing with the ends of my hair. I had some awful split ends – time for another haircut. I smiled to myself as I heard James spluttering and finally rolled my eyes to put him out of his misery.

"Chill James," I said, sitting up and tying my hair up on my head. "She's just going with Dorcas and I."

I heard his sigh of relief and then felt his pillow hit my head. I laughed and threw it back at him.

"At least she was nice about it for once," Sirius shrugged. "First time for everything, I suppose."

"Hey! That's my best mate!"

"And he's mine," Sirius replied. "She could give him a chance – just look at the sad sap."

We both turned to see James staring forlornly up at the canopy over his four-poster sighing to himself.

"Prongs, maybe you should back off a bit. She doesn't hate you anymore, but if you keep asking her every spare moment, she's going to start seeing it as a bit of a joke," Remus said, patting his shoulder as he packed his school bag for the next day. Honestly the boy was so organized, it hurt – and how did it take so much time when he already spent every moment packing and repacking it?

"That's brilliant advice Remus – listen to your friends, James," I said, getting up from Sirius' bed and stretching. "Want to walk me to my dormitory, loser?"

Sirius groaned. "Really? You want me to walk you all the way downstairs and two feet across the room, just so I can watch you walk up another set of staircases before I have to just turn around and come back again?"

"Yup," I nodded.

He sighed. "You are a pain in my arse."

"You love it."

"Get out of here Kate," James groaned and Sirius barked his laugh.

"Come on then," he said, grabbing my hand and marching me to the door.

"See you in the morning," Remus called.

"Sirius?" I said when we reached the bottom of the girls' staircases. The common room was empty now – everyone was still getting used to being back at school and were in bed before midnight – even though we'd been here a month already.

Sirius looked exasperated with me but nodded through a yawn.

"Has Remus ever had a girlfriend?"

He raised an eyebrow. "No. You know that."

"Yeah," I said, fiddling with the end of the bannister. "But, I mean…has he ever kissed anyone?"

Sirius shrugged. "No idea."

"What?" I demanded. "You're his mate!"

"So are you! Why are you asking me?"

"Well I'm his girl mate – he might not tell me the same things as you."

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his gorgeous hair. "Honestly Kate, we don't talk about that kind of thing."

I gave him a skeptical look. "You don't tell them how far you've got with me?"

He laughed sheepishly and nodded. "Course I have. I mean…if it happens, sure we'll run through the quick and dirty version – but if it hasn't…then we just don't talk about it."

"So, what you're saying is, he's never kissed anyone before?"

Sirius sighed and sat on the bottom step, groaning as the stairs turned in to a slide. He leaned his head back and hit it against the marble a couple of times. "Every. Bloody. Time."

"Well?" I pressed, joining him at the bottom of the slide.

"Well, I suppose, no. He hasn't. But who cares? He'll get to it eventually."

"Mmmhmm," I said thoughtfully, tapping my lips.

"Oh no," Sirius said shutting his eyes and then covering them with his hands for good measure.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You've got that look," he said, peeking out from between his fingers.

"Moi?" I asked, twirling my hair around my finger.

"Vous!" he said. "You've got that Katie-look."

"Don't call me Katie!" I said in annoyance. "Kate is already a nickname – there's absolutely no sense is adding an extra letter and lengthening it again. Besides it makes me sound like a three-year-old."

He laughed. "It's your alter ego's name – for when you're being particularly diabolical. That look – it means you've got a really awful idea that you'll probably coerce me into helping you with."

"Wellll," I said, smiling. "I was thinking that we should help Remus, maybe."

"No."

"Aw come on Sirius, just a little nudge in the right direction. Did you know that he didn't ask Emmeline to Hogsmeade because he thought you would be mad?"

He frowned. "Really? Why would he think that?"

"Because you used to go out with her and he is a very nice and considerate boy, unlike others I know," I said, shoving his shoulder. He closed his eyes again and shook his head.

"I'll talk to him."

"He still probably won't ask her though," I said and Sirius did his weird scoff-laugh.

"Leave the poor bloke alone. He's just nervous."

"Exactly! He's so painfully shy – no one will ever see how brilliant he is if he doesn't put himself out there. That's why we should help!"

"I want no part in your madness, thank you," Sirius said sitting up. "Now shut up, kiss me, and climb up this slide so I can check out your bum on the way up."

"How dare you!" I said, clutching my chest before accepting the peck on the lips and turning to climb up the side, covering my bum the whole way up.

When I heard his wolf-whistle, though, I couldn't help but smile.

* * *

_A/N: So, I know it seems like a set-up for a love-triangle, but I won't be going that way with this story, which is why I haven't put Sirius in the pairing information. This is a pretty dramatic left turn from my last story, so I would love to hear what you think! Thanks for reading :)_


	2. How can you two stand it?

_A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for your reviews - you are awesome. I'll try and update at least every other day, but since I'm writing this story as I post - updates will be a bit slower than Bottle-Specs. Thanks again and enjoy :)_

* * *

Chapter Two: How can you two stand it?

The best thing about the girls in our dormitory was that we were all early risers. Maybe we'd developed the habit because we'd grown up together – but even so, Lily, Dorcas and I were always up before six with plenty of time for us all to shower and get dressed without the hassle. I knew that the Fifth Year girls went through a nightmare every day because Emmeline had used our bathroom three times in the past month already, so I was thankful for our drama-free zone. I'd got the shower first that morning, so as the other two got dressed, I flipped on the wireless to see if there was any new music out today. My favourite DJ – Gordon Greaves had the early slot because, even though_ I_ loved his choices, he didn't play the popular stuff. I was humming along to the tune as I brushed my hair in to a ponytail when Dorcas emerged from the bathroom and frowned at me.

"Isn't this a bit depressing for the morning?"

"You call this depressing? Have you heard Celestina's new 'hit'?" I said, rolling my eyes. "What's it called? 'I See you Stunning' – ugh."

"At least it's catchy!" she replied, fiddling in her bag. She was as bad as Remus – except not as organized. She was going to get a hunchback if she carried all of those books around with her every day.

_"__And for all you Ghoul-heads – here's a nice early morning surprise. The new release off their latest record: You Avada-ed my Heart by The Ghouls…" _

I paused and held a hand up for Dorcas to stop her humming of Warbeck's latest garbage and the familiar chords of my favourite band started up. I shrieked, grabbed my bag and ran from the dormitory without looking back knowing, but not caring, that Dorcas probably thought I was insane. The Ghouls had a new tune out and Remus had to hear it! I raced at top speed down the stairs, knocking over a Third Year girl in the process and bumping into two Seventh Year boys who yelled something about a fire to me. When I got to the Sixth Year Boys' dormitory, I flung the door open and covered my eyes impatiently.

"Are you decent?"

"What the–?"

"Kate?" Sirius sounded sleepy, so he was probably just getting up. I peeked through my fingers and saw that Peter was hurriedly buttoning up his shirt, while Sirius sat tiredly up in bed, looking at me through squinted eyes. Remus was already dressed and ready but was very bizarrely sorting through his bag _again _– honestly what kind of mad organizational system did he have? How many categories were involved? Never mind that – THE GHOULS!

"Kate, what are you doing here?" Sirius said, groaning as he dragged himself to the edge of his bed and caught my arm as I passed.

"Not here for you, I'm afraid!" I said, pecking him quickly on the cheek before I thundered over to Remus' bed. Peter glared at me and I shot him a grin.

"You've missed your top button, Pete!"

He sighed laboriously before turning away from me and back to the mirror.

"What's going on Madhouse?" Remus said, amusedly. He'd finally finished packing his bag – thank Merlin!

"Turn on the Wireless! The new Ghouls song is out!"

"What?" he asked, his eyes widening before he dove at the Wireless on his bedside table and flicked it on.

"Do the turn back time thing!"

"The what?"

"The re-windy knob!"

"Oh!" Remus said, turning the knob. We both sighed as we heard Gordon Greaves announce the new song once again and Remus collapsed back on to his bed spread-eagled, closing his eyes to listen.

Meanwhile, James was exiting the bathroom with his towel wrapped dangerously low around his hips. Hmmm. Lily didn't know what she was missing. He squinted at me and rubbed his foggy glasses before he yelped and covered his bare chest.

"Kate! Wha- Why–"

"Careful James, your towel's slipping," I teased and he squeaked again in outrage before he disappeared back in to the bathroom and slammed the door. I laughed and started to shake my head to the music, jumping up and down and enjoying the intro. Through squinted eyes, Sirius looked at me dancing wildly and then at Remus who was being very bloke-like and just nodding his head and listening to the lyrics intently. Finally my boyfriend just shook his head as I started to twirl, and went to knock on the bathroom door.

Four amazing minutes later, I was out of breath and on my back next to Remus. He'd sat up almost instantly but grinned when I smiled cheerfully up at him.

"It's amazing. Their best yet," I sighed.

"Did you hear that lyric – 'I won't know pain until I see the flash of green'…?"

"I know," I said, squeezing my eyes shut and squealing in delight. "We_ have_ to see them when they're in Hogsmeade in April."

"I checked already – sold out," he shrugged. "Some fans, we are!"

"I'll find us a way in," I said, sitting up and smiling as James exited the bathroom, fully dressed with an annoyed look on his face. He didn't say a word to us, just beckoned to Peter and the two of them headed down to breakfast. Sirius emerged another five minutes later, running a hand through his wet hair and shaking his head like a dog. He laughed when he saw the contented expressions on our faces.

"I really can't believe you two like that rubbish. He sounds like he's dying," he said, picking up his bag and stuffing some crumpled parchment in to it. That was Sirius' organization system.

Remus and I exchanged a knowing look. Sirius would never understand how brilliant The Ghouls were – he was too stubborn to give them a chance.

"He's in pain," Remus explained.

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius said, throwing an arm over my shoulders as the three of us headed down to the Great Hall together. "Someone should put him out of his misery."

"So, what's the big plan for Hogsmeade then?" I asked Lily and Dorcas during Care of Magical Creatures later that day. We were trying to decipher the cries of an Augurey, but they were really maddening animals and no matter how many times Kettleburn pointed out the difference between a squawk that predicted snow, and a wail that forecasted wind, we still hadn't managed to understand what the weather would be next week. For this reason, most of the students were lying on their backs enjoying the last of the sunshine in case the Augureys really were squawking and snow was on the cards. Since Remus and Peter didn't take this class, James and Sirius were partnered with Bertram Aubrey – a Ravenclaw who they really didn't like. He wasn't particularly bad, but he was a massive corrector. Just last week, he'd very smugly corrected one of Lily's answers and James had gotten annoyed at him. Of course, as usual they'd overreacted and had blown Aubrey's head up to twice its normal size and he hadn't quite forgiven them. He was wearing a heavy leather hat – supposedly to hold his skull in shape, and I'd seen Sirius eyeing it all afternoon.

"Aren't you going to Hogsmeade with Black?" Lily asked as she studied the Augurey's doleful expression. "Do you reckon this one's ill?"

It hooted a bit like an owl and Dorcas flipped a page in her book.

"That might mean a thunderstorm."

"Or a heat wave," I said, pointing at another description. "Honestly, what is the point?"

We all frowned at the bird and settled back on to the warm ground. Kettleburn was on the other side of the field, so we could enjoy the sun for a few minutes before we got back to work.

"I don't think Sirius and I will be going together actually – I thought the three of us could spend it together," I said, pulling at some blades of grass.

"Or we could _all_ go together?" Dorcas suggested as she rolled on to her stomach. "Then we wouldn't have to listen to you pine about missing him all day."

"Well Lily, would you agree to that?" I asked, swatting her on the arm.

"Hmm…Potter said he's going to Hogsmeade with Mary MacDonald," she shrugged. "I can live with the other three."

"She's jealous," I said to Dorcas knowingly.

Lily sighed, her eyes still closed. "Oh yes, I'm absolutely fuming."

Suddenly, a very heavy something landed right next to me and a strap-like thing whipped across my wrist.

"Hey!" I said, sitting up and picking up the object. Oh, Aubrey's hat/helmet thing.

"Give that back!" Bertram shouted, clutching at his head.

"Why've you given this to me, Sirius?" I asked, rolling it over in my hands.

"Don't be a prat, Kate. Give it back to the poor sod," Lily said, sitting up.

"I was just testing out a theory," Sirius said, pointing at Bertram's expanding head. His voice was muffled now and he was muttering indecipherably at James and Sirius.

"I think he's trying to say something Prongs," Sirius said, cupping a hand to his ear and listening. "He sounds a bit like these things. Do you reckon he's trying to tell us the weather forecast?"

"Augurey, Aubrey – same difference, I suppose," James shrugged. "Chuck his hat back Kate – he's going a bit red."

"Aw, you're no fun," Sirius frowned.

"Wow, did Potter really say that?" Lily murmured to us and I bit back a grin.

"Here James, catch!" I said, tossing it high and giving him a chance to show off his Chaser skills. I knew he would have liked to take advantage of Lily's attention. Sadly however, he wasn't quite ready for it, because he was smiling at her, and the heavy leather hat hit him smack on the face and knocked him down.

As Sirius and I howled with laughter, Lily hurried over, pulled the hat back on to Aubrey's massive head and knelt beside James.

"Are you okay, Potter?"

"WHAT is going on here?" Kettleburn was hobbling over on his only good leg, glaring at us all furiously.

"Well, maybe it won't be a detention in the forest?" I said hopefully to Lily as she fumed beside me on our way up to the Common Room. James had also stalked off in a fury and after chuckling with me for a few minutes, Sirius had followed, leaving me to deal with Lily's wrath and Dorcas' disappointed looks. I wasn't sure why _she_ was giving me a hard time – she was the only one who'd escaped detention because apparently the Augurey _had _been predicting a thunderstorm.

"Did I hear that right?"

We stopped in our tracks and I pulled a face, sighing before I turned around. There, with her hands on her hips looking even more disappointed than Dorcas, was my Head Girl sister.

"Oh,_ hi_ Mafalda," I said, plastering on my most innocent grin.

"Katherine Ann Hopkirk – you got detention _again?_"

My sister was shorter than me by about two inches but her hair was the flyaway kind that gave her a crazed and rather formidable look. She also took herself far too seriously and regularly seemed to forget that I was only eighteen months younger than her – not six or seven years. I suppose there was also the fact that she was Head Girl and I had…well, probably not even been considered for Prefect. It was really a shame that we were sisters, because her friends and all of our Professors seemed to think she was wonderful – maybe she saved all of the niceness for them and all of the scolding for me.

"Just a miniscule one. It was a bit of a misunderstanding," I said, wincing. My poor friends were going to have to endure this awkwardness. Actually poor me! At least if they really wanted to, they could make a run for it. I'd never survive Mafalda's Bat Bogey Hex if I tried that.

She clicked her tongue and her eyes disappeared behind her lids for a moment. She looked a bit creepy, but I held my tongue.

"Doesn't it get tiring?" she sighed. "Acting like a child and annoying everyone all of the time? Can't you just be sensible?"

"Well you're annoying _me_ right now – are _you_ tired?"

She sighed once more, and her pupils were hidden again for a moment, before she opened her eyes and gave me one of her 'looks'. Sometimes she looked like she was about to scream like a banshee, but other times – like right now - she just looked exhausted with me. It made me feel the tiniest bit guilty.

"It wasn't even my fault, Maffie!" I said. "Sirius was chucking something around and–"

"Oh Sirius was involved! No surprise there!" she said. "Why do you always only think of yourself, Kate? Don't you realize how this looks for me?"

"For you? _You_ didn't do anything."

I heard Lily give a funny cough and my mouth twitched.

"I'm Head Girl," she reminded me for the thousandth time. "The things you do reflect on me!"

"Ah, stop it – no one even remembers we're sisters half of the time," I shrugged.

"Thank goodness for that!" she said, narrowing her eyes at me. "And you Lily!"

I felt Lily stiffen beside me.

"You're a Prefect!" My holier-than-thou sister continued.

"Yeah, I know," Lily hung her head and Mafalda turned to Dorcas who immediately raised her hands in front of her.

"I didn't do anything."

My sister gave another 'hmph' and shook her head. "I'm going to have to write to Mum and Dad now, you know?"

I groaned and stared at the ceiling. "You don't _have_ to!"

"Just go to your Common Room, Kate," she said, shaking her head and hurrying away – probably to stomp on some puppies or take sweets from the First-Years.

"No offence, Kate," Lily said as we started to walk. "But your sister is a nightmare."

Dorcas shuddered. "She's terrifying."

"Oh trust me, I know. She's the worst," I sighed. Now I'd have a Howler by morning for sure. Even Kettleburn wasn't writing to my parents – why did she have to?

"Well, she's not as bad as Petunia, I guess," Lily shrugged. "At least she doesn't call you a freak."

"Ah, yes – it's the little victories," I said, twisting my hair around my finger in annoyance. Now my day was completely ruined. I wondered if Sirius could help me intercept her owl somehow – he was good at nonsense things like that.

"We're going to stop at the Library to return our books for Defence – do you have any?" Dorcas asked, shaking me from my grand scheme.

"Oh – no, I'm going to the Common Room. See you in a bit?"

They nodded goodbye and I hurried along the corridor alone, trying to figure out which owl Mafalda would be using. She had her own – a gift for being Head Girl – but I also knew she was sending off job applications to the Ministry every week, so there was a chance she'd be using a school owl. I'd have to see if Sirius could figure it out – he had uncanny guessing abilities.

When I reached the Portrait Hole, I was hidden behind a group of boisterous Fourth Years, so at first the boys didn't notice my presence in the Common Room. James was complaining about someone.

"And she's so loud! How can someone be that loud in the morning? And why is she always in there – she's there when I wake up, when I go to bed, when I'm not there! It is _so_ annoying!"

"James – come on…I know the last couple of days were a bit full on, but you're overreacting," Remus protested.

"Am I? Everywhere I bloody turn, she's there. And her voice…agh, how can you two stand it? It's like a mile a minute every minute. And the two of you! The calmest ones – I don't know how – Ugh, I hate her," James groaned, pacing and gesturing wildly at Sirius and Remus.

"James, sit down – you might have a concussion," Peter said, pulling out a chair and gesturing to it. James ignored it and continued to pace behind the sofa Sirius was sprawled across. He didn't seem to be paying attention at all - just flipping through a muggle magazine about some odd two-wheeled cars he was mad for. Finally, he gave a heavy sigh interrupting James' continued muttering.

"Oh give it a rest, Prongs. You're just moody 'cause you hit your head."

"No, _she_ hit my head!" James exclaimed.

Oh my Godric. He was complaining about _me!_ Just how many people in this place thought I was annoying? I felt a strange sting of tears in my eyeballs. I was already in a mood – did I really have to walk in on this conversation? I didn't really mind that he was talking behind my back – let's face it – we all do it…but I didn't want to hear that I was annoying! I thought I was charming – maybe a bit dramatic and loud, but I had always gotten along so well with all of the boys – I never expected one of them to hate me!

"James – stop it. You like Kate! You've just had a bad day and you're being a baby. Sit down and relax," Remus said in his no nonsense voice. He looked exhausted, running his hands over his pale face. Sirius nodded, barely looking up from his magazine. My wonderful boyfriend, everyone!

I cleared my throat and the four boys froze. Peter was the first to see me and his eyes widened in shock. James looked worse, his hair sticking up at odd angles and his mouth hanging open as he stared at me, fighting for words. Sirius collapsed back against the armrest with a thump and Remus looked worriedly at me. When I didn't react, Remus and Sirius exchanged a look and James swept his hand through his hair, still apparently grasping for words.

"Oh sorry, I was just looking for some friends of mine. Don't let me interrupt you – I wouldn't want to _annoy_ anyone," I snapped, whirling around and running head first in to a First Year boy. Well, it was more like his head hit my chest. He looked up at me, red in the face but I had no time to be concerned for his wellbeing, or to giggle at his blush – I had to get the hell away from these idiots.

"Oh-um, I'm–" the First Year stuttered, sidestepping at the same time as me, and getting in my way again.

"So, which one of us d'you reckon she'll listen to?" I heard Sirius say tiredly before I physically picked the child up and moved him out of my path. I ignored the Fat Lady's moan of annoyance at having to open again and took three large steps forward before I felt someone's hand on my shoulder.

"Kate, hang on."

"Remus, go away. I'm in a mood and I'm probably ten times more annoying when I'm in a mood."

He chuckled and fell in to step with me easily. "So, where are we going?"

"_We_ aren't going anywhere. _I _am going to throw myself off the Astronomy Tower."

"Oh good. I was worried you were going to do something really irrational," he said lightly and I exhaled in irritation. Why did Remus have to follow me out there – his presence was too calming and I _wanted _to stay annoyed. Why couldn't he just go and sort out his bag or something?

"ARGHH!" I shrieked and he flinched away from me. I took a deep breath and stopped my tantrum. "It's okay – I'm fine now.

Remus nodded, and studied the frayed ends of his sleeve.

"It's just – I ran in to my sister and she told me I was annoying too," I groaned. "And she's writing to my parents about my detention."

He smiled sympathetically. "That sucks."

"Yes! So, James picked the wrong day to have a go at me behind my back!"

"He's just moody – Emmeline quit the Quidditch team. He's going to have to replace her. And you hit his head with Aubrey's helmet," Remus shrugged.

"Not my fault – and only _half_ my fault!" I replied, undoing my hair from its tight ponytail and shaking it out. Remus just stared in what looked like exasperation as I shook it around and ruffled it up, trying to get rid of the pain that the strain of the ponytail brought. Once I straightened up, he raised an eyebrow at me.

"There was also the naked thing this morning."

"What naked thing?" I asked, screwing up my eyebrows. Had they seen me naked this morning?

"This morning when he got out of the shower and you teased him," Remus said, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. "I think he's worried you'll describe it to Lily or something."

I started to laugh. "That? Aw, poor James. You can tell him that I would have only had nice things to say. Honestly, I think Lily would be impressed if I described it to her."

Remus groaned and covered his face and I grinned. It was so funny to catch him off guard like that – he was too easy to embarrass.

"No but really," I said. "Tell him – because I'm never speaking to him again."

"You know Kate, I'm sure I've said this to you before…but you are very dramatic."

"Yeah," I sighed. "I've heard that once or twice."

We smiled at each other and I punched his shoulder.

"Okay sod off and tell Sirius you've tamed the shrew. I'm going to the Library to find the girls."

"Were you looking for us before?" Remus asked as I started to take off down the corridor.

"Well, sort of. I wanted Sirius to help me come up with a plan to intercept my sister's owl."

Remus shook his head. "Think better of it?"

"Yeah…I guess a Howler isn't the end of the world," I shrugged. "See ya later, Switzerland."

I could practically hear him rolling his eyes as I headed off to the Library.

* * *

_A/N: I imagine The Ghouls to be the Wizarding inspiration for The Smiths :) Thanks for reading!_


	3. A Top Secret Meeting

_A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing friends. I am really enjoying writing this story and coming up with new ways to present the characters that I love. Hope you enjoy._

* * *

Chapter Three: A Top Secret Meeting

Our detention for the Aubrey debacle was set for the following evening - Friday at ten o'clock. And I was dreading it. Firstly – it was already so unfair because we had Hogsmeade in the morning and we probably wouldn't be done until one or two in the morning. Secondly – I hadn't spoken to James since overhearing his rant about me and as a result, had also not seen much of Sirius. He'd sat with me at breakfast and told me to ignore his mate's moodiness but that was about the extent of it. Thirdly – Lily had been complaining about the detention all day because she thought it was unfair that she'd got in trouble just because she'd bothered to check that I hadn't killed James. Fourthly – I hated sodding detention: especially in the Forest.

Kettleburn thankfully only took us as far as the first clearing in the trees and set us to work on replanting Hagrid's giant pumpkins for Halloween. And then, because Sirius and James kept chucking dragon dung at each other, he'd made Lily go and work with Sirius and stupid, 'How-can-you-stand-her' Potter was sent to work with me. I turned my back as soon as he knelt beside me, digging in the dirt furiously so that I wouldn't have to pretend to notice his presence.

"Oi, chuck us some soil?" James said, throwing me a large planter. It landed on my hand painfully and I winced.

"There – now we're even," he grinned.

"You causing me bodily harm after insulting me behind my back makes us even?"

"No," he said shaking his head. "Me causing you bodily harm after you gave me this, makes us even." He lifted up his fringe and revealed a large egg shaped lump.

"Wow, that helmet was harder than it looked."

He laughed and nudged my shoulder. "Hey I'm sorry about what I said."

"Oh it's okay – I have thick skin," I shrugged. "And I suppose I can be a bit annoying."

"Don't worry – it's part of your charm," James said with another apologetic smile.

"Okay, okay James – I get it, you love me," I replied, throwing some soil in to his planter and pushing it towards him.

He rolled his eyes. "You really are annoying, you know? You should work on that."

"You should work on your face," I muttered at my pumpkin that was stubbornly growing vines through the holes in the too-small pot. We worked in silence for a while, James digging in the dirt and me, trying to untangle the vines. We both sighed as we heard Lily laughing at Sirius wearing a pumpkin on top of his head and looked at each other.

"So, Sirius told me about your idea," he said after we watched Kettleburn yell at Sirius for playing with the 'extremely precious pumpkin'.

"Which one?"

Hang on, had I even told Sirius about my idea to intercept my sister's owl? No – I had already got my Howler this morning. Oh – maybe it was my idea for t-shirts with The Ghouls lyrics on them – no…that was the one I'd told Remus about.

"About getting Remus a girlfriend."

OH. That one!

"And you think I shouldn't interfere either, I suppose?"

"No, I think it's brilliant," James replied, glancing over his shoulder. "Remus definitely deserves a girlfriend. Especially since Peter's just got his first date to Hogsmeade."

"Really?" I asked, falling off my haunches. I always forgot about Peter – I was so concerned about Remus being kiss-less that I forgot about the other quarter of the Marauders who would probably die alone.

"Don't look so surprised!" James laughed, helping me up in to my kneeling position. "It's Jenny Higgins from Fourth."

I shook my head. "Never heard of her."

He groaned. "Ugh. You're just like Sirius sometimes. You know, the one with the really long blonde fringe and the very high voice?"

"Oh and I suppose her voice annoys you too."

He sighed. "No more than yours."

"Okay, okay – so Peter's in love – so now Remus is priority number one!" I said.

"I agree. And I've thought of the best idea to make it happen."

"You've figured out how to get him to ask Emmeline to Hogsmeade?" I asked, grabbing his arm in excitement.

"Ugh, Kate!" James said, tugging his arm free and shaking off the dirt in annoyance. "No! Emmeline Vance is not on the list since she abandoned our Quidditch team. And actually, Remus isn't feeling well, so he's not going to Hogsmeade at all."

"What? He looked fine today," I said, thinking back. A little pale, I suppose – but Remus was extraordinarily pale most of the time: nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, he was a very poorly sort of bloke.

"Yeah, just a couple of days rest will do him good – he'll be good as new on Monday."

"Oh," I frowned. "Is he in the Hospital Wing? We should go and see him."

James shook his head. "No, no – he's just holed up in the dormitory. He's particularly cranky – doesn't want to see anyone."

"Well, we should try to cheer him up at least!" I said. Sitting around the dormitory festering in your own illness sounded horrible.

"Kate – will you stop thinking about that for a minute! This is the perfect opportunity for us to meet up in Hogsmeade!"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "James, I know Remus told you that I thought you looked good half-naked, but I_ am_ still going out with your best mate."

He pushed me in to the soil as I laughed and then quickly pretended to be digging when Kettleburn hobbled over. Once he'd hobbled away, James helped me up for the millionth time.

"To discuss potential suitors for Remus, you head case! You and your mates and me and my mates – we'll all come up with a different match for him and then plan out a load of dates for him to go on," James said looking proud.

I blinked at him a few times in shock.

"That is the best idea I've ever heard!" I exclaimed, patting him on the back again with my dirty hand and grimacing when he glared. "Oops?"

"Well anyway, Sirius thought it was idiotic but he knew you'd like the idea. So – this is how I'll really make it up to you for talking behind your back."

"Aw James," I said, pouting at him. "You're just a big marshmallow underneath it all, aren't you?"

"You'll make sure Lily's there?"

Ah…of course.

"She said you were going with Mary."

He shook his head. "Had to say that so I wouldn't look too keen when she said she was going with someone else. You'll have to think of a way to get me out of that lie."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because! You owe me for this idea!"

"This is all a very tangled web, James," I sighed, tucking my hair behind my ear and pulling a face when I realized that I'd tracked mud all over the side of my face.

"Just do it," he sighed, throwing a pumpkin at my head.

* * *

"So, what exactly are we doing?" Dorcas asked as we hurried down the path leading to the village. We were bundled up extra tight because the selfish Augureys had got it right and the wind was obviously threatening to bring along a thunderstorm. I pulled my hood up further over my head and sighed.

"We're having a top secret meeting."

Lily groaned. "Are the Marauders trying to get us involved in their idiotic prank for Halloween?"

"No! It's much more important than that," I said, sticking my nose in the air knowingly. They just had to wait – they'd be floored by my brilliance soon enough.

"Is Remus coming?" Dorcas asked as she opened up her umbrella. "He wasn't at breakfast."

"No, he's ill again," I said. "You know, I have a theory about that."

Lily raised an eyebrow looking oddly alarmed. "Really?"

"Yes! I think he must have picked up bunny flu from that rabbit he had," I explained. "And then, he just sits in his dormitory and sweats amongst all the sickness and it's only making him more poorly."

The girls were looking at me blankly and Lily gave a heavy sigh.

"Bunny flu, honestly?"

Just then, Dorcas managed to distract us by being dragged to the ground by her rogue umbrella.

"Let go of it, you fool!" I yelled as the wind caught underneath it and pulled her a couple of feet backwards.

"How light is Dorcas?" Lily muttered as we hurried towards our friend and grabbed on to an ankle each. Finally, she had the sense to let go of her devil umbrella and it flew up, caught in the gusts of rainy wind.

"You'd better hang on to Lily and I, Dorcas – if we aren't careful, you'll fly away next."

"It's that bloody umbrella! I swear someone jinxed it," Dorcas said, looking around suspiciously as Lily and I both linked an arm through one of hers. Eventually, after a few mishaps where Dorcas tripped over her own feet, we made it to the Three Broomsticks and out of the rain. Predictably it was chock-a-block and we could hardly move. Thank Merlin, my crafty boyfriend and his right-hand man had already found seats – although judging by the disgruntled Third Years standing huddled in a group beside their booth – it had been less to do with craftiness and more to do with brute strength.

"Evans!" James called, raising a hand.

"He looks all right," Lily whispered to me, looking puzzled as we made our way over to the booth and James pulled out an extra chair for Dorcas at the head of the table after letting Lily to slide into the booth beside him. I slid across the opposite seat to join Sirius and he draped his arm around my shoulders without even a greeting. Yes, we were a truly romantic pair.

"Are you feeling all right Potter? Kate said that you had to cancel your date with Mary because you had a horrid stomach bug," she said, accepting one of the butterbeers James passed around to us. He froze in the middle of handing me mine and I heard Sirius choke on his own drink.

"Er," James was glaring at me as he fought for words. I don't know what he was so upset about – he'd asked me to come up with an excuse to get him out of his lie. Indigestion was an excellent explanation for most things, I'd found.

Sirius chuckled. "Kate's got the wrong end of the stick – since Peter got a date too, James wanted to keep me company."

"And what am I, chopped flobberworm?" I said, snatching the still hanging butterbeer out of James' hand.

"You look a bit like a flobberworm right now," Sirius teased patting down my windswept hair.

"Do flobberworms even have hair?" I asked thoughtfully.

"For the love of Merlin, can you please stop talking about flobberworms?" Dorcas said, pushing her butterbeer away disgustedly.

"You gave up your date to hang out with Sirius, his girlfriend and her mates?" Lily still pressed, obviously fascinated. She was being a bit thick though – had she honestly believed that James had a date with someone else in the first place? The same James who practically fainted when she passed him in the corridor?

"Er–" James Potter: still extremely good with words.

"Anyway, what's going on? Prongs says the two of you have cooked up some master plan," Sirius said to stop his mate from spluttering all over himself.

"Well," I said grinning.

"Oh no!" Lily said, slapping her forehead. Dorcas seemed to agree, shaking her head and reaching for her butterbeer again.

"What?"

"You've got that Katie-look," Lily sighed.

I looked between my boyfriend and Lily and raised my eyebrows. "Do you two talk behind my back or something?"

They both laughed and Dorcas rolled her eyes. "No – we've just all agreed that Katie is your evil alter ego."

"You absolute arse!" I said, smacking Sirius' arm as he doubled up laughing. "Why would you tell them that?"

"Anyway, enough about you Katie," James said, grinning as I hissed in anger. "We're here to discuss Remus."

Sirius groaned. "Oh bollocks. Not this again."

"What?" Lily asked. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing!" James and Sirius replied immediately. They even harmonized. It was very odd.

"Nothing physically – but emotionally, the poor boy is a wreck. Heart sick and alone," I explained with a sad sigh.

Sirius scoffed and downed the remainder of his drink before asking if anyone wanted seconds.

When he'd gone off to the bar to get us more beverages, James and I filled my friends in on our ingenious plan to get Remus' love life going. Surprisingly, they didn't take it well.

"Can't we just leave the poor bloke alone?" Lily said as Sirius returned and handed out fresh bottles.

"Maybe he likes being single – it's not the worst thing in the world, most of us are!" Dorcas added.

"But he's _so_ shy! It's not a choice like it is with you two. Dorcas, how many people asked you to Hogsmeade this trip?"

She shrugged. "One."

"Who was it?" James asked interestedly. "It was Aubrey wasn't it? I saw him giving you the eye."

When she reddened, the two boys broke in to laughter.

"Lad doesn't understand the concept of 'leagues'," Sirius said, shaking his head. "At least you said no."

"Anyway – three people asked Lily!" Dorcas said elbowing the redhead.

That put a stop to James' smile.

"Four actually – you forgot about this one," I said nodding to James. He gave me such a contemptuous look; I shrank against Sirius to hide.

"Potter didn't _actually_ ask me to go with him. And Diggory, White and Doxy are all conceited pricks," Lily said shaking her head. "But – what does this have to do with anything?"

"Poor Remus is holed up in his dormitory dying from bunny flu and he needs our help! He deserves to come to Hogsmeade and be forced in to Madame Puddifoot's!" I insisted.

"It's a rite of passage for a bloke," James added helpfully despite his annoyance with me.

"He'll hate us," Lily said after a moment.

"He'll probably throw a fit. He's so even-tempered most of the time – this will definitely be the thing to throw him off the deep end," Dorcas said.

James laughed. "You clearly don't know Remus like we do."

But Sirius was suddenly nodding. "Actually – this is starting to sound like a laugh. I love pissing off Moony."

"Yes!" I said, kissing his cheek with a smacking noise and he grinned and pressed his lips to mine. Lily made a face and Dorcas and James looked away, but Sirius and I were too busy kissing to properly notice.

"Okay!" Lily finally said, and we broke apart. "If it'll make the two of you stop snogging your faces off – we can talk about your idea, Kate."

"Aha! Well, it was half James' idea," I said nodding modestly trying to make James look good in front of her.

"I suppose that explains the complete bonkerdom," she replied. "The two of you scheming – Godric help us."

"Hey! It's a perfectly good plan. We're all different, right? So we all choose a girl for Remus to go out with and that'll give him plenty of options to choose from," James said using the strange, deep voice he uses around Lily.

"No way am I okay with turning Remus Lupin in to a womanizer," Dorcas said, shaking her head.

"Not at the same time!" I protested.

"Yeah, I doubt he could handle it," Sirius laughed.

"Hey! He could handle it if he wanted to," I argued. "But we won't make him prove you wrong – the point is, we'll have back ups if the first few don't work out."

"I don't know," Lily sighed. "Are you sure he'd be okay with this?"

James nodded immediately and Sirius shrugged.

"Won't know until we try. I got Peter a date with Jenny today and that seems to be working out," Sirius said, nodding behind Lily and Dorcas. We all turned to see Peter at a table across the room laughing with a girl with a very long fringe.

"Actually, _I_ got them together," James put in. "She thought _you_ were flirting with her."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head at me. "Don't listen to him. I would never flirt with Fringy over there."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he laughed again. "How could I when I have someone with such gorgeous flobberworm hair sitting right beside me?"

I grinned and we both laughed against each other's lips as our friends groaned.

The rest of Hogsmeade was very wet. Peter had joined us after a successful date with his fringed-lover and the six of us attempted to look in the shops on the High Street before we went back to the Castle. Unfortunately the thunderstorm was at full force and we decided to call it quits when, after slipping on a puddle, Dorcas almost face planted on to the street and James had to catch her. Thankfully, we didn't have to spend much time convincing Peter to take part in our plan because he would have taken a bath with a Grindylow if Sirius and James asked him to. When we got to the Common Room, Sirius shook hands with Lily and James and congratulated them for not having a yelling match. That made Lily very embarrassed, so she hurried up the stairs to the dormitory with Dorcas in tow. I stayed back with the boys and kicked a bunch of First Years out of the sofas by the fire. James and Peter started a game of Chess and I curled up in an armchair with Sirius.

After just staring in to the fire contentedly for almost fifteen minutes, I got very bored.

"Shouldn't you check on Remus?" I said, poking Sirius' face so he would open his eyes. He swatted my hand away and started to play with a piece of my hair.

"He's sleeping."

"I didn't know you were a Seer," I said, running my own fingers along his damp t-shirt.

"He's fine."

"Well then, how about we go up there and listen to some Ghouls' songs and gently ease him in to this little plan of ours?"

Sirius chuckled. "One, I do not listen to that crap. Two, I really think you should let me break it to him."

"Why can't I?"

"Well Kate – I'm just guessing, but I think you'll probably spew some nonsense about him being heartsick and put him off the idea."

"Besides," Peter spoke up. "It's Lad's night."

Ugh. Lad's night. I mean, I understood the reasoning – but it was overly exclusive and so strict! What kind of losers needed to put aside a day once a month just to spend time together without any girls? What did they get up to? I'd bet my sister's Head Girl badge that it was something naughty – it certainly seemed that way.

"Can I come?" I asked, pouting at Sirius. "I'll just lie on your bed and make no noise."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "As much as I hate turning down the chance to get you in my bed – it's Lad's night, Kate."

"So?"

"No birds allowed!" James piped up.

And he called _me_ annoying.

"Don't pout," Sirius said, kissing my lips softly before he moved me off his lap and stood up to stretch. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"It's not even about you," I said with a forced shrug. "Will you at least talk to Remus about our idea when you get up there?"

"Promise," Peter yawned, unconvincingly. Sirius and James exchanged a look that, as usual, I didn't understand.

"It's not fair! I want to see Remus too – I haven't seen him since yesterday."

The boys exchanged looks again. Stupid idiots having silent conversations – I bet they only did it for show and had no clue what the other was thinking. Sirius was probably looking at James and thinking, 'Hey, isn't my girlfriend adorably persistent?' and James would look back solemnly and think, 'I want some toast.'

"You'll see him tomorrow too," Sirius said, ruffling my hair. "Night Kate."

"Some lad's night!" I muttered as the three of them headed up the staircases. "It's only four in the afternoon."

* * *

_A/N: No Remus oddly in this chapter even though all of the conversation concerned him. He'll find out about the plan in the next chapter...how do you think he'll react? :)_


	4. It is not a good idea

_A/N: Thanks for your reviews and follows and favourites! Sorry this took longer than usual, it's an important set-up chapter. Hope you enjoy! :)_

* * *

Chapter Four: It is _not _a good idea

I spent most of Sunday doing dull, boring, painful homework with Lily and Dorcas in the Library and by the time Lunch was over, I was starting to go insane.

"Maybe she's never gone this long without a snog," Lily suggested as the three of us settled down in the Common Room at the tables opposite the boys' staircase. I kept my eyes on the corner that the Sixth Years usually walked around before coming downstairs, and clicked my tongue. Were Lad's nights supposed to stretch all the way to the next afternoon?

"I don't care about snogging!" I said, huffing. "I want to hear what Remus thought about our idea."

"_Your_ idea," Lily corrected. "I refuse to be involved until I know he's on board."

"Same," Dorcas said as she looked over her Transfiguration homework. We'd done it ages ago and it was actually quite easy – multiple-choice took the entire headache out of it – thank Merlin.

"What did you get for question six?"

"C! When in doubt, pick C!" I groaned as Lily looked over her own answer.

"Well it might be – but it also could be B…I wasn't sure," Lily said. "We'll ask Black or Potter whenever they come down. They're good at Transfiguration."

"What do you suppose they do during their Lad's nights?" Dorcas asked as I finally looked away from the stairs to reluctantly begin work on my Care of Magical Creatures diagram.

"Do you want the inappropriate but likely answer, or the decent and unlikely answer?" I asked as I began to copy the drawing of the Augurey from the book.

"Decent, please."

"They probably practice snogging while Sirius gives them tips on how to comb their hair."

"That was the decent answer?"

"Looks like Potter still needs lessons," Lily giggled, looking past me at the Portrait Hole. I whirled around and saw all four boys emerging from the corridor looking tired but rather pleased with themselves. Remus brought up the rear, and only he looked exhausted and a bit irritated.

"Where have you been? I've been staring at this staircase for hours and hours!" I demanded when they approached.

"She's lying," Peter shrugged. "I saw them walking up here when I was going to the loo."

Remus chuckled. "Hospital Wing – I got worse yesterday."

"During Lad's night?" I exclaimed, standing and peering at his face. He did look a bit awful – almost translucent with how pale he was.

"Never got 'round to Lad's night," Sirius yawned, heading over to the sofa by the fire and kicking his legs up. Peter moved over to join him and James clapped a hand on Remus' back.

"By the way – the plan is a no go, Kate. He almost bit our heads off," he grinned at Remus who bit back a smile of his own before putting on his sternest expression.

"I can't believe you thought I would do that," he sighed.

"Hey James?" Dorcas asked, still staring at her parchment. "Have you done the Transfiguration homework?"

"Oh yeah, this morning," James said through a yawn. He ruffled Remus hair. "Watching this one sleep isn't particularly interesting."

"Are you okay?" I asked, subtly moving my hand to Remus' wrist to check his pulse. He laughed and pulled it away from me.

"Fine. Just tired."

"Good – then _why_ wouldn't you agree to my ground-breaking plan?" I said, smacking his shoulder.

"What did you put for question six?" Dorcas asked, reading out the multiple-choice answers.

Oh good Godric. Just go with bloody C, Dorcas.

"Ah, that one's C," James said as he looked over her shoulder.

"I _told_ you!" I said snapping my head around, momentarily distracted from reprimanding Remus.

Lily rolled her eyes. "We thought it might be B, and we didn't want to listen to her because she put C down for every answer she didn't know."

"Where do you come up with this stuff, Kate?" James laughed and Lily and Dorcas joined in. Ugh smug ponce – he was only agreeing with Lily because he fancied her. I'd seen him fill in the multiple-choice portion of the History of Magic exam last year and he'd just made a smiley face.

"Never mind that now! James – I thought we were in this together, how could you let him beat you down?" I asked, cocking my head at Remus. He was now massaging his temple, so I lowered my voice just a smidge.

Poncey Potter just shrugged and headed over to the sofas. He took the armchair opposite Peter and propped his legs up on the table. Seeing his blatant indifference to my dilemma, I harrumphed and grabbed Remus' arm following James. I allowed Remus to sit on the small square of sofa that Sirius wasn't sprawled across, before I sat unceremoniously on my boyfriend's stomach.

"Aargh, get off Kate!" Sirius complained, his eyes flying open as he attempted to push me off of him.

"Am I that heavy?" I asked in a very even voice as I peered down at him dangerously. His eyes widened and his mouth twitched into a guilty smile.

"No?"

I turned back to James who was still staring back at Lily as she did her usual cat stretch. He was mesmerized, his eyes looking out of focus behind his glasses and a stupid little smile was plastered on his face.

"You!"

He sighed finally tearing his eyes from my friend. "Kate, I came up with the plan – it's not my fault he didn't go for it."

"You owed me!"

"And I spent all of Hogsmeade discussing it with you. And got some quality time with Lily out of it," he said lowering his voice. "I consider it a success, myself."

I glared at him, ignoring Remus' chuckles and Sirius' squirming underneath me.

"Peter?"

"Go away Kate," he said, yawning and leaning back in his armchair looking ready for a nap.

"You are all bloody old men! You were up around Remus' sickbed all night and you couldn't put the tiniest bit of effort in to convincing him this was a good idea?"

"It is _not _a good idea," Remus said.

"You are useless. The lot of you!" I snapped, pushing down extra hard on Sirius before I got up. He groaned and shoved me lightly as I stood and I stumbled a little before storming back to my friends. The idiot boys were too tired to open their eyes, but obviously not tired enough to laugh like a pack of mental hyenas.

A few hours later, I sighed down at the chart I had started making the night before. It was shockingly neat and organized – just the way Remus would have loved it. There was a colour-coded column for each of our friends – spaces for the girl they would have chosen, sections for date ideas and rows for a score out of ten. What a waste.

"Put that away Kate and come do this Witch Weekly quiz," Dorcas said after I'd refused to move.

"I don't care about Witch Weekly," I said glumly.

"It's a quiz about what your perfect man should be like though," Lily said. "Don't you want to know if you and Sirius are meant to be?"

I laughed at that but then shook my head somberly. I was never doing anything again. I might not even do my Ghoul t-shirt ideas now.

But imagine a shirt that had 'I won't feel pain until I see the flash of green' in the middle of a shiny green lightning bolt. Genius.

"Stop moping – it's Remus who's losing out. I had a perfect pick for him," Dorcas said as she read the magazine over Lily's shoulder.

"You did?" I asked, looking up in interest. _I _hadn't even thought of a potential girl for Remus yet.

"Yeah. You know Gemma Blotworthy in Hufflepuff?"

I made a face. "Blot-whothy?"

"Her dad's a Muggle author. She's very pretty and really nice – mellow like Remus. I think they would have gotten along quite well," Dorcas said.

"What year is she?"

Dorcas made a face. "Ours."

Hmm. Same age. Quiet – liked books. Not bad, Dorcas. Not bad.

Trying to be subtle, I discreetly wrote 'Gemma Blotworthy' in the column under my friend's name. Blotworthy? Blotworty? Blutworthie?

"What about you, Lily? Did you have any ideas?" I asked, twirling my quill.

"Well…there's the Seventh Year Prefect – Marlene McKinnon," Lily said, tapping her bottom lip. "I think she plays the guitar…and Remus likes music, doesn't he?"

"Is she the one with the dark hair?" I asked as I scrawled her name down on my chart.

"Yeah but I think she's a blonde naturally."

Blonde. Hmm…maybe not perfect for Remus – but apparently she dyed it and the music thing was a big plus.

"What about you? I bet you had a million ideas," Dorcas said, pointing at something in the magazine and making Lily laugh.

"Oh yeah," I said, searching my head for names. "Emmeline Vance."

My friends looked surprised. "Didn't she go out with Sirius before you did?"

I shrugged. "Yeah but they broke up. Maybe Remus would be better for her."

I didn't tell them that James had said she was off limits for his ridiculous Quidditch vendetta, and I wrote her name down even though I didn't actually think Emmeline was right for Remus. I had no other ideas and at least she was nice. And Remus had almost asked her to Hogsmeade before.

"Katie, is that you?"

I looked up; feeling startled from my thoughts and saw my two friends looking at me suspiciously. A slight smile was playing at the corner of Dorcas' mouth.

"Don't call me Katie," I sighed.

"What are you planning now?" Lily called as I stuck my tongue out at them, shoved my chart in to my bag and hurried off in search of the boys. Remus had already gone upstairs to nap, so I just needed to find them before dinner when he was going to be around again.

I found them outside, even though it was bloody freezing and the grass was still damp from the thunderstorm the day before. Sirius was leaning against the big beech tree with his eyes closed and James and Peter were lying beside him on their backs, head-to-head, playing some bizarre game where they tossed parchment to each other. How boys amused themselves – I could write a best selling comedy about it.

"Hey!" I said, surprising James and Peter when I sat right beside their touching heads. They both yelped but Sirius barely stirred, I just heard him sigh heavily. Maybe he was dreaming.

"What do you want Kate? I'm not talking to Remus about it again," James sighed, sitting up and ruffling his hair before he pulled Peter up too. They resumed their parchment tossing game once more and I tried not to die with boredom.

"I know you're not. I was just wondering if you'd given any thought to who you _would've_ suggested for him," I said, leaning back against the tree beside Sirius and pulling out my chart. He sighed again and snaked his arm around my waist hugging me to his side.

"Jenny has a friend called Sarah – she has a bit of a dark side – she likes danger and that sort of thing. Thought it might be interesting for her to get to know Remus," Peter shrugged. He missed the ball of parchment James threw his way and it hit him right in the face.

A girl with a dark side who liked danger? And Remus? That sounded like a mismatch, but I supposed it was a start. She could be the first date and there would still be five perfectly good options waiting if she turned out to be a weirdo.

"Last name?"

"Hobbs."

Sarah Hobbs, the girl with a dark side. Ridiculous.

"James?"

"Well," he said thoughtfully. "Honestly, I kind of thought of Dorcas."

WHAT.

"What?"

He laughed. "Yeah I figured that wouldn't sit well with you. Okay, how about Mary then?"

"Good luck explaining to Lily that it didn't work out with her so you're pawning her off on Remus," I said as I wrote down Mary's name. Mary was actually probably the best one of the list – she was quiet but sarcastic and Mulciber had bullied her pretty bad last year, so Remus would balance her out quite nicely with his well adjusted and sweet demeanor.

"What about you, sleepyhead?" I asked, patting Sirius' cheek. He was resting his chin on my shoulder now, looking down at my chart.

"Nah, I want no part in this."

"You prick! Everyone else is!"

"What? I thought this was hypothetical!" Peter said as he and James moved over to look at my chart. James burst in to laughter.

"Wow – that is ridiculously organized. Forget the girls – Remus is going to fall in love with that chart."

"I spent extra effort getting all the lines neat and stuff. I thought it suited him," I said, feeling pleased. I knew Remus would like it.

James looked at me a little funnily. "This actually means something to you, doesn't it? I mean it's not just for a laugh, is it?"

"No! I want Remus to be happy. Now that you've got a lover," I nodded to Peter, "And you and Lily aren't at each other's throats anymore – he might get lonely."

"Aw," Peter said, beaming at me and I blushed a little.

Sirius nudged my neck with his chin and he was smiling when I turned to look at him.

"I'm still not suggesting a girl – but I'll talk to him again. Since you went to all this trouble," he said.

I shrugged. "It's just a chart."

The three boys laughed.

"You used a ruler, Kate – that's very serious business," Sirius chuckled.

I knew it hadn't gone well the moment the Marauders entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day. Remus was storming away from Sirius, who had his hands in his pockets as he looked sheepishly at Peter and James. I tried to hide behind the juice pitcher but my head was too big.

"You!" Remus said to me as the boys sat down. "Enough of this rubbish! I am not going to let you lot force me in to scaring a bunch of unassuming girls."

"You're not really scary, mate," Sirius said helping himself to bacon and falling silent at Remus' death glare.

"Stop telling my mates to coax me in to it. None of them are subtle and this is the most ridiculous idea you've ever had!" Remus said angrily, buttering his toast and accidentally spreading it all over his wrist in the process.

"Oh Katie, what did you do…" Lily said, shaking her head.

"It is not a ridiculous idea!" I complained. "If you'd just give it a chance, Remus…"

"Stop! I've had it. Just leave me alone. I_ like_ being alone!" he huffed.

"No one likes being alone!" I protested and gritted my teeth at his second death stare of the day. He was being so difficult for no reason! Why couldn't he just give me an inch? "You might like some of them!" I continued, stabbing at my eggs.

"Who says they'd like me?" he snapped. "Honestly, have you just sat and thought about it for a minute? They hardly know me, it makes no sense."

"Of course they'd like you!" I replied. "They just haven't had a chance to get to know you because you're so shy."

I felt Sirius nudge my leg under the table warningly but I ignored it. I wasn't quitting until Remus admitted he was being stubborn.

"Merlin! You are driving me insane," Remus muttered.

"Look, I'll prove it!" I said, staring down the table.

"What…no, wait!"

"Hey! You!" I said, pointing at a Third Year girl who was staring at us. "You'd go out with Remus Lupin, right?"

I heard Sirius and James mutter something to each other and Dorcas sigh, but I ignored them, still staring at the little Third Year.

She was blushing furiously and her eyes were darting between a mortified Remus, her friends, and me. Finally she bit her lip and nodded, staring at him with wide eyes.

"There!" I said, turning away from the kid and gesturing wildly in her direction. "Easy as cake."

"I am going to kill you," Remus said, taking a giant bite of his toast and getting up from the table and storming off.

"Well, you've won him over now," James said lightly.

Remus had thankfully cooled down a little by our afternoon Herbology lesson with the Hufflepuffs. Dorcas had pointed out Gemma Blotworthy (worthie?) and I saw that she was very pretty, with nice straight teeth and stylish black-rimmed glasses. She also had her nose buried in a book, so it was fairly easy to scrutinize her without her noticing. Towards the middle of the lesson, I went over to Remus' workstation under the pretense of borrowing his clipping shears. Peter gave me a look, but I ignored him.

"Can I borrow those please?" I said to Remus brightly.

He sighed and handed them over, barely looking away from the plant he was working on. He and Peter were holding back the leaves while James and Sirius struggled to pull the pods from between the moving vines.

"Remus?"

"Kate."

"Do you see that girl over there?"

He glanced up and looked at where I was pointing and nodded as he pushed my hand down and returned to staring at the plant.

"Do you think she's pretty?"

He raised an eyebrow at me and sighed heavily before he looked back at her.

"Yeah, she's pretty."

"You know – that was Dorcas' suggestion for you," I said lightly.

"What?" He groaned, snatching his shears back from me. "Go away, Kate."

"I'm just showing you what you're missing."

Sirius laughed from under the leaves and James said, "You've got to give her points for persistence, mate."

"Kate, I know you think you're doing a nice thing. But please," Remus begged. "You're embarrassing me."

"I'm not trying to!" I replied, taking back the shears. "I just want you to give it a chance."

"Why?" he said dully as James and Sirius finally produced four pods - one for each of them. Lily, Dorcas and I had got ours in five minutes – the boys were useless at Herbology.

"Come on, you'll never understand the meaning of The Ghouls' best lyrics if you don't fall in love at least once!" I said, playing to my strengths.

He laughed and rolled his eyes at his friends. "I think I'll survive."

"Come on – the pain and the heartbreak and the joy and the rush of it all – don't you want to understand why he's asking someone to avada his heart?" I insisted.

Sirius, James and Peter burst in to laughter at this and Remus' mouth twitched.

"Trust me, Kate. I can understand pain well enough."

"KATE! Your pod is making a really odd noise!" Lily whispered harshly from our plant a few workstations away.

"You know you're supposed to pierce them within five minutes or they explode, right?" Remus said, mouth still twitching.

"You know that you're insufferable, right?" I moaned as I hurried back to my friends. Sadly not soon enough – Lily and Dorcas did not look friendly when they were covered in green pus.

By the end of the day, I was very nearly ready to give up. I only had one trick left up my sleeve – I hadn't wanted to use it because it was my most manipulative one, but it was also my best chance. Refusing Lily and Dorcas when they asked me to go to the Library, I sat in the corner of the Common Room alone, looking very sorry for myself. I purposefully didn't look at the Marauders, even when Sirius had waved at me when I walked in. He'd understand – he'd probably even make Remus come and talk to me because of it. I was sure that none of them could handle my look of devastation – sad girls on the verge of tears (even if they were pretend tears) were their weakness. I sighed extra loudly as I made a show of pulling my beautifully constructed chart out of my bag and placing it on the table. With a quill in my hand, I stared down at the page poised to cross off the names. I had to wait a minute or two longer than what would have seemed normal, but soon Remus had pulled up a chair sighing at me. He moved the chart to face him and read over it.

"You made this for me?"

I nodded and shrugged. "I know you like things to be organized."

He shook his head, still staring at it. "It's the best laid out timetable I have ever seen you make. Actually – the only timetable I've seen you make, unless you count the three word list you made for OWLs last year."

"Don't worry – I'm just about to cross the names out," I sighed again. "And then I'm going to rip it up."

He chuckled and I bit back a smile as I added, "And then I'll burn the pieces."

"You are infuriating," he said, kicking my leg under the table. We sat in silence for a few moments before he spoke again. I waited patiently – occasionally I _could_ be patient – especially when I was waiting for something I wanted bad enough.

"Why do you care so much about this, anyway?"

He wasn't looking at me, just down at the table and I sighed.

"I just want to see someone who deserves happiness actually be happy."

He squinted at me out of the corner of his eye. "You really think these girls would go out with me?"

"Of course I do! You are brilliant and smart and good-looking and funny, if not, a little too sarcastic. Any of them would be lucky to go out with you," I said earnestly. Even though I knew I was persuading him with my sad face, I still meant every word. There were few better boys than Remus.

He scoffed and exhaled. "And this really means a lot to you?"

"Yes."

"It's so pathetic though," he groaned, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his face.

"Oh Remus, it's not as if I've signed you up for a dating service – it's just your friends, who care, choosing girls who they think would be a good match for you."

He sighed with his face still covered and after a few heavy moments, he mumbled something.

"What was that?"

He uncovered his face and sighed at me. "I said; I'm going to regret this."

YES. Success! I felt a tiny bit bad for the fake sad face, but still – he would thank me for it later.

"You won't. I promise you, it will be great!" I said, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly. His hand pressed to my back for a second before he pulled away and made a face.

"You are so annoying. You think I didn't see right through those melodramatic sighs?"

I grinned and he chuckled again, running a hand through his light brown hair. He had a couple of greys all in a bunch by his ear. Remus: handsome and distinguished – I'd have to keep that in mind in case this plan didn't work and I had to put a personal advert in Witch Weekly for him.

"Wow mate – I thought you had more fight than that!"

I looked up to see Sirius laughing and shaking his head. Remus joined in tiredly, but shrugged.

"She's very convincing. You know that – once she decides something, there's no way to say no."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"You make me sound very evil," I said, carefully putting my beautiful chart back in to my bag and sniffing.

"Oh shush Katie." Remus shook his head.

AGH I hated that this alter ego nickname had stuck.

"So, Kate. Remember when you said that you wanted to lie in my bed and be quiet for a few hours?" Sirius said, raising an eyebrow.

We both laughed at Remus' red face and groan as I took Sirius' hand and followed him up to the dormitory.

* * *

_A/N: Oh Remus, you just can't say no can you? You polite, adorable, werewolf you! Thanks for reading everyone! I would love to hear what you think!_


	5. Fringy and McDanger

_A/N: Thank you for your reviews! I'm posting this chapter earlier than expected because I really liked the way it came out. So, I just realized that I'm 5 chapters in and there hasn't been a hint of a description of Kate. I think I did this accidentally on purpose since she's very confident and doesn't seem like the type to drone on about her appearance in her head. I will be sprinkling more of her description in gradually, but if you want a general idea - I would imagine someone who looked a bit like Olivia Munn in school age form. At least in the same 'type'. Also, my chapters are getting atrociously long, but I hope you'll like them anyway :)_

* * *

Chapter Five: Fringy and McDanger

"Good morning Peter," I said in a no nonsense voice as I sat beside him in History of Magic the next day. Remus and Dorcas hadn't arrived yet – maybe he had caught sight of her surplus of books and took it upon himself to organize her bag for her – so I slid into Remus' usual seat without hesitation. Peter was looking at me warily, like just the sight of me gave him a headache, but I ignored his expression and pulled the Remus chart from my bag and placed it in front of us proudly.

Peter didn't seem to share my enthusiasm. He sighed heavily. "What now? Have you added another layer of insanity to your plan?"

I was offended. Stupid Marauders – why didn't they learn to get some sleep? I simply could not understand people who were grumpy in the mornings the way those four boys were. I excused his choice of words even though I thought that he should have said 'genius' and not 'insanity,' and decided not to draw attention to it because he still had that very exhausted expression on his face.

"No Peter, I am simply gathering more information so that I can set up Remus' first date," I explained with my quill daintily poised over Sarah Hobbs, our Resident Hogwarts thrillseeker's column. I very much needed to get more information on the girl – after all – the only thing that had stuck in my mind was the fact that she was a sucker for danger. Since she was two years younger and I am very occasionally, remarkably unobservant, I couldn't quite recall her physical existence.

"First, please describe Miss Hobbs."

Peter shook his head in a very familiar motion. "You've seen her a million times, Kate. She's the girl who's always with my girlfriend."

I yelped in astonishment, feeling completely derailed, and clapped Peter on the back.

"Your _girlfriend?_ Peter, you sly dog! I thought Jenny was simply your fringy-lover – when did this happen?"

He bit his lip and opened his book with a dignified look – it wasn't very successful because his teeth protruded from underneath his top lip and made him look quite rodent-esque. That combined with the look of exhaustion didn't make for a pleasant combination. I felt a stab of pity for Fringy – perhaps she had poor eyesight.

"Yesterday, when I asked her," he replied, sticking his nose up a bit and highlighting the immense length of his nostrils.

"Alas, and now poor Hobbs is dying inside hoping that you'll set her up with an equally dashing and handsome lover?" I said, elbowing him in the ribs and laying on the charm thick. Peter was easy to convince when he wasn't copying James and Sirius' don't-care attitude. He fell for my friendly elbow without question and looked suddenly pleased as he ran a hand over his wispy, mousy brown hair. I noticed that it was thinning a bit, but I clamped my mouth shut to avoid accidentally letting the observation slip from my lips.

"Well, no – she's quite popular really. But she likes bad boys, so Remus will have to show her his dangerous side."

"Hmm," I said chewing the end of my quill and spitting out a few stray feathery strands. I hadn't a clue what Peter was on about. As far as I could tell, Remus was about as dangerous as a hinkypunk. I mean sure, they were sneaky little buggers but they were hardly more than a nuisance - all you needed to do was ignore them. Hmm…perhaps Remus wasn't like a hinkypunk at all – more like a mewling kitten, really. I chewed my quill again and blanched as I once again swallowed more feathers. After wiping my tongue off on the sleeve of my robes and ignoring Peter, the known nose-picker's look of disgust, I wrote a little note in the margin about Hobbs' preference for danger and then looked up brightly, quill poised once more.

"Right. How are we going to make Remus look like a bad boy?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "He'll be fine once he gets talking – you underestimate him."

That was a blatant lie if I'd ever heard one, but I sighed in resignation.

"Mmm…okay, I better do the introductions I suppose. Remus will never have the gall to go up to her on his own. What does she look like again?"

"Tall, her hair is short and black – about Jenny's build," Peter described with a shrug as if this was sufficient information for me to stir my memory. The problem was, I couldn't for the life of me remember what _Jenny_ looked like other than a giant fringe, and so I still hadn't a clue about Hobbs.

"Okay…will you point her out in the Common Room?"

"Why are you sitting in my seat, Kate?"

Remus had joined us and I noticed that Dorcas was sitting at our usual desk at the front of the room, pulling out a book from her bag that, for once, didn't look like it was bulging to the brim.

"Did you sort out Dorcas' bag for her?" I asked, staring at my friend's unusually neat desk in wonder.

He turned around to glance at her and looked confused before he looked down at the pile of books in his hands. "Um, no. Oh, but I carried some of her books here though – she has issues with remembering which subjects we don't have on certain days." He dropped the stack on the desk and nodded at me.

"Can you give her these?"

"You carried her books all the way here, and now you want _me_ to go and deliver them?"

He blinked at me and I blinked back and he sighed.

Muttering to himself, he snatched the pile away and took it to her, smiling kindly before he returned and practically screamed his head off at me.

"Get up, please."

Okay, tiny exaggeration – but the fury was all in the eyes.

"But Peter and I are organizing your first date," I protested holding up the chart and grinning at Peter. The effect was ruined somewhat when he didn't look back.

Remus, on the other hand, looked _terrified_. I swear his face went even whiter than normal and he looked exactly like Professor Binns, who had, coincidentally, just floated in to the room and begun the lecture. As usual, the Ghost Professor didn't pay any attention to the fact that half of the room was empty and the people who _were_ there were talking loudly and not even all sat down. What a barmy sod.

Meanwhile Remus still looked as though he was having heart palpitations.

"What? Kate! I'm not ready…I'm…er, still ill. I need a few days!"

"Sorry Remus, I've already inked Sarah Hobbs in for this evening," I said pointing out the note under her name. It was written on the chart, therefore set in stone – obviously. Remus could not deny the power of a chart.

"Why are you planning a date for us anyway? Do you plan on holding my hand through the whole thing? Shouldn't I get to know her first?" he replied, running both hands through his hair and clutching at it helplessly. He made a fair point, but was missing one crucial thing.

"If I leave it up to you, you won't ask her out until you're thirty-five and all of the other girls won't have a chance!"

Remus and Peter exchanged the infamous Marauder eye conversation – Remus was obviously thinking, 'She's right' and Peter probably replied with, 'Shall I grow a fringe?'

"Look – if you're insisting on this, then just introduce me so I can talk to her at least. Figure out if I like her – if she'll like _me _– before we commit to anything," Remus pleaded looking slightly deranged now as he pulled his hands from his hair and clutched the edge of the desk. I didn't understand it.

"Why would you need to do that?"

"Kate! Stop acting purposely dense – introduce us and I'll give it a chance. I've already agreed to your ludicrous idea – you don't need to keep pushing," Remus said tiredly, pulling me from his seat and rudely taking my place. Well, I say it was rude, but he was exceedingly gentle and even gave me a polite nod as he sat. Then, he started to take things from his bag and I knew he was going to start the seven-hour process of organizing his desk so I shrugged, preparing to leave him to it. This lecture was going to be boring enough without me witnessing Remus' unhealthy obsession with lining his quill up directly parallel to his parchment.

Before I left, I thought I better mention one more important thing.

"Well, I've got to get Peter to introduce _me_ to her first. All I know about her is that she's friends with Fringy and likes bad boys."

I saw Peter's very original eye roll and Remus' mouth splutter open before he seemed to change his mind and snapped his head to look at Peter instead of me.

"Bad boys?" he asked in disbelief. "How did you reckon that would work?"

Peter laughed. "Just danger will do."

Remus shook his head. "I hate you."

"I thought it was ridiculous too," I said. "But maybe opposites attract. Or…you could borrow one of Sirius' leather jackets and dye your hair black and pierce your lip or something. I've got plenty of hoop earrings that should do the trick."

"Go away Kate."

Why did people always tell me to go away? You would think after the first million times, they'd know that I wasn't going anywhere. I sighed, ready to pat Remus condescendingly and explain that I would be happy to leave once I determined what size ring he needed by measuring the width of his bottom lip, when Peter interrupted me.

"I'll introduce him, Kate. You just stay out of it."

"But!"

"Miss Hopdiddle!"

Who?

I turned around to see Binns floating beside me glaring through his creepy see-through eyes. I felt the usual mad desire to laugh at his ridiculous substitution for my name combined with his unnecessarily doleful expression, but bit my lip to avoid escalating the situation.

"Why are you standing up?" he demanded in a ghostly tone. He looked ridiculous – I had to stare through him to avoid snickering right in his stern face, and in the process saw two Slytherins throwing paper planes at each other. Sure – he could notice me standing around trying to be a good friend to Remus, but he couldn't see those two chortling and flirting like two very disgusting eleven-year-olds! Oh, the injustice!

Remus and Peter were laughing at me and Binns was still glaring, so I sighed heavily and walked right through him to get to my desk. He shrieked and the windows rattled a little.

"MISS HOPBLUNDER! How dare you–"

As he launched into a sermon about how I couldn't just walk through him because he was a ghost, I ignored him and thought about what date to plan for Remus and Sarah McDanger after Peter had made the introductions.

James had found a Chaser to replace Emmeline and he and Sirius had been gushing over her all bloody day. I was sitting by the fire with them, Lily, and Dorcas playing Snap and every fifth word that came out of their mouth was something about her.

"And you saw the way she ducked away from your bludger?" James said as he put down a card.

"Held on to her broom with one finger – I swear Prongs, even you couldn't have done that!" Sirius nodded as he played his turn.

"Hey! I know she's good, but let's not go crazy here."

Dorcas giggled as she put down her card and threw her hands up with relief. Lily was studying James' face in interest.

"Don't you think a girl could be as good as you?" she asked, a challenging look on her face. I glanced at Sirius and then James. Trap alert, Potter. Run for cover. Man the turrets!

"It has nothing to do with the fact that she's a girl, Evans. More to do with the fact that I am me," he said arrogantly, throwing her a playful wink.

I winced as I threw down my card on to the stack – I wasn't worried about it blowing up, however. Lily was much more dangerous. I braced myself for the impending shouting match and made a face at Sirius to motion for him to do the same. He crinkled his eyebrows, shaking his head with a knowing smile.

To my utter shock, Lily laughed.

"Get your head out of arse, Potter."

James chuckled and smiling winningly at her. I even saw a slight redness in my friend's cheeks as he leaned over the table to play his turn, keeping his eyes on her.

And then, the game blew up in his face.

I burst in to hysterical laughter and the others joined in as James spluttered and rubbed the ash from his face. Even under the soot, he was bright red. It was _hilarious._ He tried to laugh with us, unsuccessfully, as he sent a spell at his face to wipe away the dirt before he started shuffling the cards again. I noticed that his mouth was moving noiselessly and I snickered again wishing I could understand his muttering.

"I'd like to see how she works with you and Spindle at practice," Sirius said, once again bringing attention back to this Fifth Year girl who was apparently some kind of Quidditch Goddess.

"Where are Peter and Remus?" I asked interrupting James' response and impatiently looking around the room. Fringy and McDanger were sitting by the windows doing homework, but there was no sign of the other half of the Marauders. Remus was stalling.

"Peter's probably still prepping Remus for his date," James said. "I'm surprised that you're not there fussing over his hair or something, Kate."

I made a face. "I tried, but they told me to get out. Apparently Peter is better at pep talks than me. I don't see why Remus was so upset, I only told him he had too much hair gel in."

Lily and Dorcas laughed and James shook his head knowledgeably.

"Never insult a man's hair gel, Kate. Love lesson _numéro un_."

"_Merde,_" I said, as we started up the game again.

Almost immediately, we paused because the Quidditch Goddess had graced us with her presence. Well, to be fair, she had just walked unassumingly in to the Common Room and Sirius and James had yelled her over like obsessed fans. Lily and Dorcas chuckled at me as I pulled a face, and I put down my cards and stretched, watching as she fluttered rather spastically between our sofas and the portrait hole. I didn't recognize her. She was short – shorter than Mafalda even – and was apparently a Fifth Year. Her hair was dark blonde and although it was tied in a long plait down her back, the front was creatively windswept – the sort of look you could only achieve by being on a broomstick. I knew this because my hair was so straight that no amount of hairspray ever gave it even a dash of volume. Mafalda was always jealous of my hair as children, but I always felt the opposite. The dull way it sometimes hung in my face didn't suit my personality at all. I had always wished for the slightly insane way hers flew up around her head and I felt a stab of the same longing now, as I took in the Quidditch Goddess' mane – it looked so haphazard, like she wasn't bothered about making it look good and it _still_ did. People noticed you when you had unique hair – mine was just simple: not even an interesting color, just an unordinary albeit nice, dark brown. It was nothing like Dorcas' strikingly pale blonde bob that framed her face like an artistic cloud, or Lily's shock of dark red, gorgeous waves. I was sure that no one had ever affectionately looked at my hair and thought 'Oh, how cute' or 'Wow' or 'I wonder if she does that on purpose'. The response to it was more likely 'Oh, she has hair – that's good. Look at those tits.' Sure, Sirius liked to twirl it around his fingers occasionally, but I got the feeling he only did that because he saw me doing it all the time and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

While I was quite feverishly overanalyzing the benefits of having interesting hair versus the upside of having above average-sized breasts, the Quidditch Goddess had approached and was now standing uncertainly in the space between James in his armchair, and Sirius on the sofa beside Lily and Dorcas. She seemed afraid of stepping into our circle and I felt a snort of amusement pass through me. I mean I knew we could be an intimidating bunch – I liked it that way – but she looked positively _terrified_. I had a good view of her from my armchair opposite Sirius and I studied her with unhidden interest. How come girls who play Quidditch are so slight like that? They had no curves or anything – slender would be a good way to describe it - Emmeline was the same way. I noted that at least the school wouldn't have to invest in new Quidditch robes. But then again, I supposed that they would have to include her name that, for some reason, I couldn't even guess at. I watched as she bit her nails nervously, her eyes darting from the floor to Sirius and James' faces, and I frowned. I had never seen this girl in my life. Perhaps she'd done the impossible and transferred in from Beauxbatons or something.

"Hey Lizzy!" Sirius said cheerfully.

"Ready for practice on Thursday?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.

Honestly – surely they'd had this conversation with her an hour ago when she'd made the team. The kind of flirting that boys did with girls they'd just met was laughable. It was so pointless and predictable. Even so, her face was flushed and I was sure she was eating it all up. They are a charming pair of lads – stupid though.

"Well done Liz! I knew you could do it," Lily said, smiling warmly.

Hang on, Lily knew her too?

I smiled too and leaned over to mutter to Dorcas out of the side of my mouth. "Do you know her?"

Dorcas gave me a look and whispered, "She's in Emmeline's year – she used our bathroom this morning."

Had she? I thought Emmeline was the only one who used our bathroom. I actually could have sworn I had a full conversation with Emmeline this morning!

"You said you liked her hair!" Dorcas added, looking exasperated. Ah, there it was – I must have been half asleep and thought that this Lizzy girl was Emmeline in my daze. How rude of me not to properly introduce myself to this new Beauxbatons transfer. I was actually quite annoyed with myself – she had done the impossible and I'd never even got to ask her how she'd done it. I mean when did she get sorted in to Gryffindor? What was the protocol for Transfer students? Maybe Dumbledore had put the Sorting Hat on her head in private so she wouldn't feel like a ponce – it seemed the considerate sort of thing Albus would do.

I turned to the girl, who was still looking at me nervously. I felt a pang of guilt – she must be bricking it being new and all – and here I was not even noticing that I'd had conversations with her. Also, she might have overheard my whisper to Dorcas; I couldn't quite tell so I decided to overcompensate by being extra nice.

"So, how are you enjoying Hogwarts so far Lizzy?" I asked kindly. My friends gave a collective sigh and Dorcas hit me with a cushion from the sofa.

"You absolute tit!" she exclaimed.

I was quite taken aback at her rudeness. Since the others were simply giving Lizzy apologetic smiles or shaking their heads, I gathered quite quickly that apparently this girl was not at all a Beauxbatons transfer, but simply a student who I hadn't noticed up until this precise moment. Ah – I was a bit self-centered, but I meant no harm. There was absolutely no reason to call me a tit, Dorcas. Rude.

"Ignore her – she has no idea what happens in any world outside of hers." Sirius laughed, rolling his eyes at me.

Lizzy giggled apprehensively and I frowned. I bet that Sirius had no clue who she was until she turned up at Quidditch trials either. What a prick.

"Hogwarts is er– lovely as um– always," the girl stuttered with a bright, but nervous smile. When she started to go red and look at the floor, I saw Sirius' eyes go out of focus for a moment and I gritted my teeth. What was _wrong_ with him? Well, I knew of course. Sirius was attracted to extremes. On one hand, he seemed to like quiet girls who blushed and spluttered around him nervously like the girl who had accidentally said that she liked his 'bat' and this mumbling girl here, but on the other hand, he fancied loud, obnoxious but obviously _very charming_ girls like Emmeline and me.

Thankfully, at that very moment, Remus and Peter arrived at the top of the staircase and I was sufficiently distracted to turn away. I was able to tune out what was sure to be Sirius' 'harmless' flirtation with the girl and focus on Peter patting his friend encouragingly on the back. Remus looked quite nice – his hair was combed and he didn't even look pale and see-through anymore. In fact, there was a slight blush in his cheeks and his forehead glistened a bit with not wholly unattractive sweat. He seemed to have ditched his normally shabby clothes for a shirt that I think James' mum might have bought Sirius last Easter and agh! His collar was all messy – surely Peter knew he ought to straighten it. I wondered quickly if they would push me down the stairs if I ran up to go fix it myself, when suddenly the reason for the sloppiness dawned on me. They were doing this _on purpose_ for the 'bad boy' image Sarah Hobbs was so partial to. Peter was a genius!

Well…maybe that was a _bit_ of a stretch. But still, very clever of him all the same.

"Look!" I said, tapping Dorcas and Lily. "Remus is about to meet Girl One."

The girls looked away from whatever conversation they'd been having with the Quidditch-obsessed wankers and looked over their shoulders excitedly. To my surprise, they ducked down to hide behind the back of the sofa in an attempt to be discreet. Feeling silly, I did the same with my armchair and we all watched Peter and Remus stroll up to Fringy and McDanger. I snorted to myself as I thought of the names again – they could fight crime.

Remus still looked a tiny bit sweaty, but he put on a lovely smile as Peter hugged Jenny hello and introduced Remus to Sarah. She looked bored at first and I felt a stab of annoyance with her, but then Remus said something and she broke in to laughter. She must have liked sarcasm because I couldn't imagine Remus formulating a proper joke. He and Peter sat down with the girls and began chatting and I sighed wishing I could hear their conversation.

"So far so good!" Dorcas said with a grin. "It's your turn Kate."

Still looking over my shoulder at Remus, I put down my Snap card and yelped as the pile blew up. That was so unfair! The group was laughing at me now, new girl included, and I very dramatically took a bow to save face. Half of my hair was smoking and I studied the ends in annoyance – there wasn't any damage but it reeked. Brilliant now people would look at me and think, _'Oh, she has hair, that's – hang on, she stinks!'_

"Ugh, hair should be off limits," I sighed, pulling it on to my head in a bun. "I'm going to smell like Zonko's for hours."

Lizzy said something to James and Sirius and then waved at Lily, Dorcas and I.

"See you all later," she mumbled and then added, "I um, hope your hair is okay, Kate."

How annoying.

"Do the cleaning spell Kate, you look ridiculous," Sirius laughed as he shuffled the cards.

"Oh…sorry, I guess I'm not all lovely and windswept like The Mumbler over there," I said, casting the cleaning spell and feeling the soot siphon off my face.

I felt the air thicken and James looked up at the ceiling while Dorcas and Lily cleared their throats uncomfortably. Sirius, however, laughed.

"Your green monster is showing Katie."

I glared at him coolly, but bit my tongue. "Do you know any spells to eavesdrop? I want to hear what's going on between Remus and Sarah."

Sirius smiled and nodded. "For you, anything."

Urgh – I hated how much I loved his smile – it made me forget all my annoyances in a snap. What an astonishingly unfair talent to bestow upon a boy who already had too many talents to count.

He waved his wand in their direction and suddenly we could all hear Remus' conversation with Sarah as easily as if they were sitting right beside us. Being the girlfriend of a Marauder, for all its downfalls, certainly had perks.

"That is so dangerous and creepy," Lily said, shuddering. "Now I'm going to have to censor everything I say when you're nearby."

"You mean you talk about us?" James asked looking excited.

She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off.

"Shush! What's the point in eavesdropping if you lot are yakking over them?" I hissed, waving at them in irritation and I turning back to peek around the side of my armchair at Remus and Sarah. My chatty mates laughed but the four of them finally fell silent so that we could all listen.

It wasn't going well. Sarah looked kind of bored, and truth be told, I didn't blame her. Remus was talking about the history of goblins.

"Yeah, I know you touch on the Goblin wars in OWLs – but if you take History for NEWT, they go into it really in-depth. It's absolutely fascinating," he said.

"Cool," Sarah said, studying her nails and throwing her fringed-friend a look. Jenny ignored her and turned back to Peter who was looking at Remus worriedly.

"Come on Remus…show her your dark side," I heard James mumble. Sirius scoffed and privately, I agreed with the sentiment.

"Um…" Remus looked flustered now and I willed him to talk about anything other than goblins or schoolwork – The Ghouls maybe – that would make him seem cool and show off his ability to understand pain. That, I suppose, was quite dark and would probably buy him a few more minutes of interest. 'Ghouls – music – Ghouls!' I thought desperately.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Remus asked, after clearing his throat. I saw Peter and Jenny relax as Sarah broke in to a smile. I did a mental victory dance. Perhaps I had a gift for Legilimency.

"I think he heard you Kate," Lily whispered and I saw Remus glance back at me.

Oh, maybe I'd cough-spoken the words to help him. Well – I was still looking in to that Legilimency thing.

"Oh! I'm a huge fan of the Crowing Codswallops!" Sarah said and I stuck my tongue out.

Yuck. Bad taste.

"Oh…" Remus said, nodding politely although I was sure he wanted to gag too. "Yeah, I like that one about the Hippogriff that fell out of the sky. Once you get past the screaming, the lyrics are pretty powerful in parts."

"What? The screaming is the best part!" Sarah replied, looking insulted.

Remus winced. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

She looked bored again and I pinched my leg. What a nightmare. Peter had the worst possible taste in potential girlfriends. Maybe Fringy was cool, but her friend was awful.

"This is a disaster," I sighed as James removed the spell and I shrunk down in my seat.

"Remus needs some tips. Treat them mean, keep 'em keen," Sirius suggested, laughing.

Dorcas and Lily groaned and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I guess fawning all over The Mumbler must have backfired – she's barely glanced your way."

Without thinking, Sirius turned and saw that Lizzy was actually still staring our way. She blushed fiercely and looked down and his eyebrows furrowed slightly before he turned back to me. The grin faded immediately and he narrowed his eyes.

"What is your problem with her?"

"I don't have a problem with The Mumbler – it's you!" I retorted loudly, standing up and stretching.

He stood too and squinted at me. "I wasn't fawning over her. You call _that_ fawning?"

"Whatever Sirius," I said grabbing the Exploding Snap cards and putting them back in their box. Dorcas and Lily were muttering to each other and James had closed his eyes looking resigned. Everyone could smell a fight obviously. The Common Room had gone too quiet. Nosy gits.

"Oh sure – throw out the accusations and then say nothing about it. This is so typical," Sirius said. He rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Fine – you want me to say something? Maybe, just_ maybe_ – it would be nice if you could not go all googly-eyed for every girl who blushes in front of you!" I said, putting my hands on my hips. I was so aggravated – at him, at Sarah Hobbs, at Peter, Remus. Why wasn't anything going to plan?

"As usual you win the Overreaction award," Sirius said looking as irritated as I felt. "We were only talking – I can't help it if you hyper-analyze every single look that's on my face."

"Well!" I snapped. "Maybe I just won't look at you anymore!"

"This isn't even about us! You're just annoyed because one of your plans didn't work out," Sirius said lowering his voice – thankfully having the tiny shred of grace not to embarrass Remus by going into details. He and the rest of his table partners were watching us now and I saw that Sarah was eyeing Sirius and biting her lip with an odd look in her eyes. Of course she fancied _him._

"Oh just get stuffed Sirius," I said, walking towards the girls' staircase.

"So, what? Are we breaking up again?" He sounded completely indifferent and I wanted to throw something at him, but all I had was that stupid pack of cards. I missed and he looked like he wanted to laugh for a moment before he slipped back into a frown.

"HEY!"

Sirius turned and revealed a large and grumpy Seventh Year bloke named Kyle Thomas – you didn't really want to mess with him because he had an awful temper and, he was also unfortunately Mafalda's boyfriend. Apparently I'd hit him with my pack of cards. He shoved past Sirius and walked right up to the staircase, throwing the cards at me. As they bounced painfully off my face, I fumbled and dropped them. I felt my face grow hot because not being able to catch was humiliating but also, I think the corner of the box must have scratched me.

"STOP having a bloody hissy fit Kate! Some of us are trying to work and you're shrieking like a gargoyle and throwing things and–"

"Hey! Back the hell off mate," Sirius said, pulling Kyle away from me.

"Stay out of this Black – I'm talking to this drama queen."

I wanted to burst in to tears. Kyle was so mean – I didn't mean to hit him! It was an accident. Anyone from any angle could see that I'd meant to hit Sirius with the box – I couldn't help it if my aim was off! And if he hated hissy fits so much, then why was _he_ throwing one?

"Don't call her a drama queen, you prick!"

"Sirius, it's okay," I muttered and he shook his head.

"Shut up for a minute, Kate."

"Don't tell me to shut up!" I snapped before I could stop myself.

He looked incredulous. "Are you serious?"

"Will you two both just _shut up_?" Kyle said, grabbing Sirius by the front of his shirt. His arms were massive – almost the width of Sirius' head and let me tell you, as gorgeous as he was, my boyfriend had a very large noggin. The expression on his face looked furious – his grey eyes were cold as he struggled against Kyle's hold and gave him a push, wrenching himself free. Just as I squinted my eyes and flinched, and Sirius started to throw a punch, Remus caught his arm.

"Calm down Padfoot."

"Just let me blast this prick to next week, Moony," Sirius argued trying to push past Remus as he pulled his wand from his pocket.

"He's a Prefect," Remus shushed before he turned around to face me and Kyle, backing against a still struggling Sirius. James and Peter had arrived by his sides now and even though Kyle was the size of a runt giant, it did finally look as though they were on the winning side. Still, I watched tensely. Remus was diplomatic, sure, but he had no experience with muggle dueling – at least Sirius and James had thrown a punch before. I couldn't quite imagine Remus doing the same – and he was at the front of the pack.

Thankfully, he seemed to choose words over fists and held his hands up peacefully to my sister's boyfriend who had now finally, stopped glaring at me and focused all of his attention on the boys.

"Kyle – calm down. Kate's going to her dormitory and Sirius is going to his – you can get on with your work just fine now – _relax_. There's no need to shriek," Remus said in his soothing, sensible tone.

Nobody saw the punch coming but after a few yells, some smoke and thumps – all four Marauders emerged mostly unscathed. Remus had a faint bruise across his eye and the others had messy hair, but Kyle was lying on the floor in the full body bind with his trousers around his ankles and his hair dyed pink. Remus swore loudly and very uncharacteristically as he glared at Kyle's incapacitated body and ran a hand over his bruise. Mafalda was going to cook me alive when she heard about this.

The Common Room erupted in to laughter and I saw that Sarah was twirling her hair around her little finger, her eyes decisively fixed on Remus and not Sirius anymore. She was by his side in a flash and was leading him off towards the sofas, stroking his arm and staring up at his bruise with googly eyes. I saw that he looked bewildered but didn't see much else because Sirius was staring at me looking as exhausted as I felt.

"So?" he said, stepping over Kyle's head and looking up at me as I uncomfortably grasped the railing of the staircase.

"Can we just talk about it later?" I sighed. I didn't even want to think about 'later' – what with Kyle, Mafalda and now, Sirius to deal with. At least, it seemed, Remus was getting along with Sarah. She was looking at him in awe, her fingers tracing his black eye in a soft caress. I heard Sirius clear his throat and I tiredly looked back at him.

"Okay," he said with a curt nod. We looked at each other for another moment before he stuck his hands back in his pockets and headed off with James, while I turned my back and hurried up the stairs to mope.

* * *

_A/N: I feel as though I want to write a crime spin-off starring Fringy and McDanger ;). Thank you all for reading!_


	6. You're not enough

_A/N: I've had a really good couple of days in terms of writing and sorting out plot points - so I'm happy to present you with another alarmingly long and jam packed chapter. Thank you so much for your reviews!_

* * *

Chapter Six: You're not enough

I spent the following morning completely and utterly alone.

Except for Dorcas.

But she was too busy revising for a Charms test during our Free and had ignored me for the most part. The Marauders had this lesson free too, but they were nowhere in sight. I wasn't that surprised because they often spent it away from me – more 'Lad's time' according to Sirius. But occasionally Remus would come do homework with Dorcas while I pretended to do the same. But even_ he_ wasn't around. I supposed they could have all been in a strop with me because Kyle had apparently given them all detentions and copped points too. There was also the glaring fact that Sirius and I were having another fight and despite what I liked to think, Remus really was Sirius' friend first. Annoyingly.

Normally I would moan about the argument and dissect it to bits, questioning why my life was so very horrible, but Dorcas gave me such a terrifying warning look that I closed my mouth before I even got the first 'Urgh' out.

"Kate, I'm sorry that you and Sirius argued, I really am – but I have to concentrate! You two will work it out," she said.

"It's not my fault you decided to take seven NEWTS!" I complained, but she just clicked her tongue and reminded me that Lily did too, and James and Remus did six, and it wasn't _her_ fault that I was insistent on being absolutely average and had only taken five.

As usual Dorcas was being unforgivably rude, but I did feel a stab of sympathy when I saw her muttering incantations to herself looking stressed. I had completely loathed Charms during OWLs, so I patted her on the back a bit and then offered to quiz her. After all, she was right – Sirius and I would work it out, or we'd break up. There really was nothing new to discuss. I even managed to laugh when Dorcas non-verbally cast the levitation charm and, very uncharacteristically, stuffed it up and knocked herself out with her textbook.

After taking a dizzy Dorcas to the Hospital Wing, I strolled off to Transfiguration, humming to myself. I knew she hadn't meant to, but she'd really cheered me up with her mishap and I wasn't feeling that low anymore. I even smiled at a couple of First Years who stopped and gaped at me as I waggled my fingers at them and laughed. When I got to the Transfiguration corridor however, I saw Lily staring at Severus Snape who was talking in a fast and quiet voice, gesturing a bit wildly. When his eyes twitched down to his sides to where his wand stuck out of his pocket, I pulled my own out and marched forward feeling another thrill.

My friends were too kind having problems of their own and distracting me from mine.

Snape hadn't spoken to Lily since she'd ended their friendship after the OWL incident, but I knew he was bound to try again this year. He was _obsessed_ with her.

"Twitchy fingers Snivellus?" I said nodding at his hand fingering his wand and pointing my own at his feet. "Do you want twitchy feet too?"

"Kate," Lily said in a tired voice and I lowered my wand, eyeing the greasy Slytherin up and down. He was gritting his teeth now and his hands were in fists at his sides. He probably wanted to hit me – I wish he would try, I was so frustrated already, and I needed to get it off my chest. A good Tarantallegra hex was bound to put me in a better mood.

"So," he finally said, turning his glare from me to Lily. "Nothing's changed."

"No," Lily said firmly, shaking her head.

He gave a curt nod and walked away with his arms swinging and his robes billowing around him like a bizarre bat. I pouted and put away my wand looking at Lily, who was still staring at the opposite wall as if Snape was still there.

"You okay?" I asked, nudging her arm.

"Fine. You didn't have to threaten to hex him," she sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back slightly.

"Don't worry," I said, patting her on the back. "I _wanted_ to."

She gave a funny laugh and when her eyes opened they were no longer glassy. I smiled at her and she nodded and we walked in to the classroom arm in arm.

Shockingly, the Marauders were there already, even though the lesson didn't start for another five minutes at least. They all watched as Lily and I headed to the desk she usually shared with Dorcas and I felt their eyes on the back of my head.

"They'll probably use that eavesdropping charm," I muttered and Lily sighed, looking over her shoulder. They were still watching and I saw that James' eyebrows were creased in concern. Sirius was the only one who looked disinterested, not even meeting my eyes as his gaze swept over Lily and up and around the room. Peter was glancing at James, and Remus sent us a sympathetic smile. We couldn't tell which one of us it was intended for, but Lily just sighed and muttered the word "Muffliato" and pointed her wand discreetly in their direction.

"They won't hear anything now," she said and true to her word, James looked suddenly frustrated putting a finger in his ear and twisting.

"Was that one of _his?_" I asked as we turned back around.

"Yes."

She didn't seem to want to talk anymore, and I found that I was happy to stay quiet too. After all, no matter how she was feeling, I wasn't quite sure it compared to the stab in my chest I'd felt when Sirius' eyes had flicked past me as if I wasn't there.

I had another Free after Lunch while the others were in Potions and since I obviously couldn't spend it with Sirius or Peter, who had also ditched the subject, I wandered around the corridors aimlessly looking for something to do. Eventually I ended up in the Defence Against the Dark Arts corridor thinking I might run into a Boggart or something that would provide me with an entertaining and distracting afternoon. I knew that you were really supposed to fight Boggarts with help, but I wasn't afraid of dealing with them myself. I had never got the same Boggart twice since my moods and fears shifted so frequently, and I actually found them surprisingly easy to get rid of since I always found myself laughing in tense or inappropriate situations. I was peeking into random nooks and corners when I heard some laughter and excitement coming from Professor Prewett's classroom.

I glanced in the window and saw that the Fifth Year Gryffindors were chortling at something he was saying – he was a hilarious teacher, a huge improvement on the awful old man we'd had the previous year who had been so mean he'd once dissolved Peter into tears. Professor Gideon Prewett on the other hand was young and fairly handsome and always had his classes in stitches. James and Sirius idolized him and I wasn't much better. It totally devastated me when he'd informed us he was only staying for a year – I had fervently hoped he would be the one to break the DADA Professor curse.

When he caught sight of me through the glass, I blushed and gave him a pathetic wave and I hurried away. Ugh, what was wrong with me? Next thing I knew I'd start stuttering.

"Katherine?"

I stopped in my tracks because, really why wouldn't you stop for a funny, super talented and fanciable teacher who said your full name with a kind of playful caress? Sadly when I turned, he didn't seem as though he was about to profess his undying love for me, but had an eyebrow cocked in confusion.

"Shouldn't you be in class or snogging your boyfriend or something?" he said, with a little smirk.

Well, I did say he was _young. _I should probably add 'a tad inappropriate' to his description but it would only make me love him more and the crush was already a bit unhealthy.

"I have neither at the minute Professor," I smiled and he beckoned me over.

Feeling very odd and uncomfortable, I walked awkwardly into his full classroom and he closed the door behind me. The Fifth Years just stared at me and I stared back before finally giving them a grimace and a wave. A couple of the boys chuckled and I felt slightly more at ease.

"Any reason you're having me gate-crash your OWL class, Sir?" I asked.

"Yes, I was just recapping Boggarts with my Fifth Years and then I saw you gaping in here, and thought you might assist me in a demonstration?" Professor Prewett grinned.

"Not feeling confident in your own abilities, eh?" I said with a knowing nod. I was so glad I'd been a creep and looked in this window – acting up for this class was cheering me up immensely.

Prewett laughed again and turned to the watching students. "For those of you who don't know, this is Katherine Hopkirk from Sixth Year."

I curtsied and noticed that Lizzy was watching me from the front row with wide eyes. Oh bugger it all – I just realized I'd called her a Mumbler at the top of my voice the night before. She probably didn't like me much.

"Katherine, when she actually tries, is one of the most talented Defence students in her year."

"Key words – 'when I try'," I said, happy to look away from Lizzy's nervous face, and feeling pleased with the compliment. I did know that I was good at his subject, but I still hated writing essays. Also, the problem with being good at Defence was that people really expected you to want to do something noble like become an Auror or something. And shallow as it might seem, the only thing I wanted to do after school was follow The Ghouls around and maybe open up a pub.

"So, while I think that the class will be able to get rid of Boggart together, I thought it might be fun for them to see an older student face one first," Prewett continued nodding to me. There were a few whispers now – a slightly chubby girl beside Lizzy looked irritated and a couple of the boys I didn't know by name, looked impressed.

"Go on Kate! We know you're dying to show off!" Emmeline said, raising a couple of giggles and titters. I rolled my eyes but grinned at her.

"So Kate?" Professor Prewett asked with an easy smile. "Will you help?"

I raised an eyebrow. I wonder if he knew how to do Legilimency and had figured out that I'd been in this corridor looking for a Boggart in the first place. His smile seemed to tell me he knew my answer before I said it as well.

"Two questions," I said holding up a finger. "One – Why are you hoarding Boggarts? Two in one classroom, honestly Sir, what is the point?"

More laughter. I bit back a grin. Thank Merlin stupid Sirius wasn't around – I never got to be the center of attention all by myself.

"Purely educational reasons, I assure you," the Professor replied before nodding me on.

"Two – do I still have to write the essay for tomorrow?"

I think one of the boys swooned. I mean whatever the boy equivalent of swooning was. I gave him an odd look and he cringed.

Prewett rolled his eyes. "If you do a good job, I'll excuse you from it."

"Then unleash the beast," I said, rolling up my sleeves and holding my wand at the ready. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the Fifth Years had leaned forward in anticipation and I couldn't quite hold back a grin. This day was really looking up for me.

Professor Prewett crossed the room to a large cabinet by the windows and nodded to me before throwing open the rusty doors. You could have heard a pin drop when the doors stopped creaking and nothing visible emerged immediately. I heard a little gasp and I thought quickly over the last few Boggarts I'd had. I hadn't had a banshee yet and I had recently developed a bit of a fear of them once I'd realized that Mafalda reminded me of one. I'd have to think about changing her voice to sound like Remus and I badly singing along to the Ghouls.

But then, _he_ walked out of the cabinet. Sirius, looking gorgeous as ever with that addictive smirk on his face, emerged with his hands in his pockets looking a bit sheepish. I frowned and I heard whispers again. This was not a usual Boggart. I cleared my throat and glanced at Professor Prewett who seemed just as confused as everyone else.

"Not sure why that's come up," I said. "I only find that ponce irritating, not scary."

And then before anyone had time to laugh at my joke, three more people walked out of the cabinet blushing and looking flustered. Their clothes were rumpled and their lips looked swollen. I felt my heart starting to beat rapidly but I was still confused as to why. If I hadn't _just_ seen Emmeline and Lizzy sitting in their chairs out of the corner of my eye, I would have actually believed that they were standing in front of me as they joined another pretty, vaguely familiar, girl at Sirius' side. I recognized her, suddenly, as the girl who had made the accidentally inappropriate bat comment. And then, abruptly, they were all over him – draping themselves on every limb – as if they were all part of the same body, kissing him where only _I_ should have been kissing him.

I'm sure Emmeline and Lizzy must have been embarrassed, but that couldn't have held a candle to how I felt right then. It was humiliating – mortifying. _That _was my biggest fear? Seeing my boyfriend cheat? It didn't make sense. Sure, I got annoyed with the flirting, but I was never really worried he'd cheat, was I?

And then the Boggart Sirius spoke and it had his husky, sexy voice and he said the only words that could have made me understand why that was my Boggart that day. It didn't make it any less humiliating though.

"You're not enough Kate – not enough to keep my attention," the Boggart Sirius said as he ran his hands down the girls' backs. "Not pretty enough or cool or interesting or smart enough. Just a loud, annoying girl who tries too hard."

And then, Mafalda came out of the cabinet too and Sirius was eyeing her up seductively.

My mouth fell open and even though I knew, _I knew, _that Lizzy and Emmeline were sitting down and weren't taking turns snogging my boyfriend's face off – I felt a surge of anger or worry or maybe even fear run through me. I was paralyzed – the first time a Boggart had ever done that to me. And ugh – for this!

Professor Prewett stood in front of me and I was able to tear my eyes from the improbable, absurd, ridiculous scene that had frozen me so that I couldn't even mutter my favorite spell in the world. As I took some deep breaths, I noticed idly that the Boggart had turned in to Professor Prewett crying over a man that looked identical to him, but also looked dead. It took him just a second before he flicked his wand and said "Riddikulus!" and the dead Prewett's eyes opened and said 'boo!' making the other Prewett skid manically across the room and knock over a potted plant. The room burst into nervous chuckles and suddenly Emmeline called out, "Come on Kate!"

And then a boy said, "Black's not scary!"

So I nodded and elbowed Professor Prewett out of the way and the startled and confused Boggart changed back in to my too-handsome boyfriend (except he had red hair like the two Prewetts) as he snogged Boggart Lizzy and then said scornfully, "You'll never be enough."

Feeling my breath catch just once more, I lifted my wand and said firmly, "Riddikulus!" and suddenly Sirius was bald as a baby's bottom and Lizzy was growing an extremely long and ugly beard. I burst into laughter as the Boggart forms of my boyfriend and the Quidditch Goddess yelped in horror and shame and the room shook with tremendous gales of laughter. And then poof, as the Boggart twitched and shook around the edges, Professor Prewett raised his wand and it was back in the cabinet and the room erupted into applause.

I curtsied again and grinned at Prewett's pat on the back before my eyes flickered to Lizzy. She looked, if possible, more mortified than I knew I'd looked moment ago. I felt a horrible wrench of guilt.

"No offence Lizzy," I shrugged with a half smile and felt a bit bad when the room laughed again.

"Okay, okay I think you've embarrassed too many people today," Professor Prewett said nudging me towards the door. "You can do 8 inches instead of 12 for your essay."

"You are very cruel Professor," I said, shaking my head as he chuckled and slammed the door.

Thankfully the last lesson of the day was History and it was quiet and uneventful. Remus and Peter were too far away from me to talk or even give me odd looks, and Dorcas was still dizzy from her accident earlier in the day. I was able to push away my problems and focus on telling her very nicely that it didn't matter that she had a headache all through her test because, since she'd been knocked out by her Charms textbook, there was always a chance that some of the knowledge had seeped in. She didn't seem to know what to say to that, so she just put her head on the table and closed her eyes. I turned back to Boring Binns and watched him and pretended to listen as I let my thoughts drift back to my Boggart. I still felt my stomach squirm sickeningly when I thought of it, and I wasn't able to push it from my head.

"I'm going to the dormitory to take a nap before dinner," Dorcas said when we left the History classroom. "Tell Lily that I'll work on the essay with her afterwards okay?"

I nodded. "I could help you too – I only have to do 8 inches."

She raised an eyebrow and I winced. I wasn't going to tell anyone about the Boggart – I knew the stupid Fifth Years would probably spread it around before I got a chance anyway.

"You live in another universe," Dorcas sighed, evidently assuming that I was just making up rules for myself. I grinned and waved goodbye before I fell back into a scowl and thundered through the corridors. I yelled at the First Years that I'd smiled at earlier and took slight pleasure in seeing them cower away before I suddenly stumbled upon another pair of familiar faces.

Lizzy and the girl who'd sat beside her during Defence were sitting on a bench in the Entrance Hall practicing summoning charms. Neither of them seemed very good at it because nothing was flying at them at random. I took a deep breath and then unceremoniously darted towards them.

Lizzy's eyes flew open in surprise and her friend narrowed hers. Why was her friend so angry with me anyway? Did _she_ know Legilimency too? Had she read my mind when I'd called her chubby in my head earlier? I hadn't really meant it as an insult. If anything, I related to her body type more than the slender Lizzy, not because I was chubby too – because I wasn't – but more because her tits looked more massive than mine. She clearly didn't seem to think we were kindred breast-its because her eyes just shot to Lizzy protectively.

"Um…" I said awkwardly wishing that my stupid school skirt had pockets. It was so unfair that the boys could just stick their hands in their pockets and look sheepish and appropriately sorry when I had to use my words.

"Hi Lizzy," I continued before nodding to her friend. I didn't want to offend her any more than I already apparently had, by admitting I didn't know her name, so I just grinned at her. She scowled and looked away. Friendly.

"H-Hi Kate," Lizzy said in a small voice.

"Sorry again about today," I said casually. "I didn't know how else to make you look funny."

Friendly girl harrumphed and glared at me again and I smiled.

"Bless you."

Lizzy elbowed her friend and then nodded. "No…er, that's okay. It was er- pretty er- funny."

I fleetingly wanted to slap her. One um or er was okay, but between every word, honestly? How was she in Gryffindor when she wasn't even brave enough to stop stuttering? How could Sirius find that attractive? I suppose the poor girl was just shy and since I was boisterous, I was probably terrifying her. There was no denying the horrified expression on her face.

"And I'm sorry about yesterday too. I shouldn't have involved you in my argument with Sirius. It wasn't nice of me," I nodded, again wanting pockets to stick my hands in. I settled for twirling a piece of hair around my finger instead.

Lizzy's cheeks were glowing a little and Friendly girl was looking confusedly at me now.

"That's really, um, okay," Lizzy said, letting out a shaky breath. "But…er, I think you were wrong."

I studied her face, trying to work out what she meant by that. In truth, I hardly remembered what I'd said at the time. "About what? I mean, not to be rude, but you are a bit of a mumbler."

"Why are you being rude then?" Friendly girl spoke up and I raised my eyebrows feeling impressed. So, she could do more than glare!

"I did say I didn't mean it."

Lizzy gave her friend a look and shook her head again. "No, I meant about…um, Sirius wishing I would look at him." Her face was the colour of Dorcas' favourite sweater now – pink, if you wondered –and she raised a hand to bite her fingernails before Friendly slapped it away.

I shrugged. "Well, _you_ would think that I suppose. But _I_ know him a bit better than you. He's attracted to you."

Now her face was the colour of Lily's hair and I felt my mouth twitch with amusement. She was easier to embarrass than Remus!

"I…I don't think so. We only spoke for the first time yesterday," she said quickly and I wanted to pat her on the back for being so eloquent.

I smiled at her in a way that I hoped showed that she was being clueless. "In any case, I thought I should tell you that we_ are_ still going out."

She looked mortified now and just nodded.

"So…if you could," I felt a bit embarrassed now, but didn't let it show. "Not flirt with him – you'd be doing me a huge favour."

"I––" She looked like she was struggling for breath and looked helplessly to her friend who was still studying me distrustfully.

"She doesn't flirt with him, she can barely say a word around him," her friend explained and I saw Lizzy scowl for the first time.

It quite endeared me to her and I suddenly felt bad for putting any blame on her in the first place. These two were clueless – they obviously didn't have a lot of experience with flirting with popular lads. Lizzy was even more innocent than Remus, and Sirius had no business flirting with her, because even if she didn't recognize it, I knew she was feeling the effects and it would only make her fancy him more. And although selfishly I wanted that not to happen because it might cause problems for me – it wasn't _her _problem.

"Yeah, I guess the real issue is him."

And then the two of them were quiet and I smiled, looking up at the ceiling and trying to whistle. When they didn't say anything, and I'd failed miserably at even managing a squeak, I looked back down at them and shrugged.

"Well, see you around."

And then I ran up the staircase two at a time to find Lily. It took only a few minutes because she was striding very impatiently down the corridor and I ran headfirst in to her. She looked like she was about to yell but then; maybe because she noted the strange tiredness on my face, she shut her mouth and smiled at me comfortingly. Part of me wanted to dissolve into tears but the other half forced me to just smile back and lead the way to the Library.

Once we'd got to our usual tables near the back and taken out our Defence homework, Lily nudged me. As much as I loved Dorcas (despite all of her rudeness) this was the reason Lily was my best friend – she knew when the look on my face was different and when it mattered.

"Hey, you haven't talked about the fight with Sirius at all yet."

I sighed, feeling exhausted. I wished she'd been there at the beginning of the day when I was in the mood to moan – right now all I wanted was to stop thinking of him and the Boggart and Lizzy and anything.

"More of the same, isn't it?" I said listlessly. "He can't keep his eyes from straying and I can't keep myself from freaking out over it."

"Will you two work it out, do you reckon?"

"I don't know Lil – sometimes I think that we're just running through our lives constantly trying to be together when all we want is to be apart. It's very confusing."

"I think you need to really tell him how much the flirting bothers you," she said, grabbing my hand. "You make jokes about it and then you blow up all of a sudden. Maybe he just doesn't realize. Tell him seriously how much it upsets you and why it upsets you and maybe he'll stop. And if he doesn't, then he's an arrogant prickhead and he doesn't deserve you anyway!" she said, her green eyes sparkling, first with earnest, and then resentment.

I nodded. "Yeah. Maybe I will. I might have been being slightly irrational yesterday, I suppose. I was just annoyed that Sarah Hobbs was such a disaster for Remus."

Lily giggled suddenly and pressed her fingers to her lips. "Oh. You didn't see."

"What?"

"She was snogging him like her life depended on it for the rest of the night. He looked exhausted by the time she'd disappeared up to her dormitory."

What. No! Remus' first snog had been with McDanger? She'd only snogged him because he'd gotten in the middle of a fight – not because she actually liked him. Urgh. I was going to kill Peter. Actually, I should have taken full responsibility for allowing her to be Girl One. Why would I trust Peter Pettigrew of all people? Oh bollocks, I hoped that Remus wasn't going to marry her! She liked the Crowing Codwallops – I wouldn't be able to come to the wedding if that would be the music they played.

"Oh," I said, to cover up my despair. I didn't want to let on that I was disappointed by this development – I knew exactly what kind of looks everyone would give me if I dared to say that Sarah Hobbs was _not_ the right girl for Remus after all the trouble we'd gone through to get him to agree to the plan in the first place. At least now I could focus my energy on sorting through that mess instead of the problems in my own life.

What would I tell Remus? That I saw her snogging someone else? No, I wasn't that terrible and even if McDanger was just the annoying kind of shallow girl that drove me mental, it wouldn't feel right.

"I've got to get some books from the Restricted Section – you should fill out the Remus chart and then we can work on Defence when I get back," Lily said, patting me on the shoulder before she headed to Madam Pince.

I took the chart out of my bag slowly and looked at Sarah's column – Dorcas had taught me a cool spell to put on it so that it filled in the details by itself. The description of the first meeting, her appearance, her personality, how she responded to Remus – all of those rows were filled in. Now I just had to give her a score. I couldn't put zero – not when he'd got a snog out of it. Oh _why _had he gotten a snog out of it? Why was everything so bloody frustrating lately?

"I'd go with 5…well, maybe that's low. 6? 7? Does that seem fair?"

I looked up and saw that Remus was poring over the chart right beside me. His collar was pushed up but I saw some telltale bruises on his neck that matched the one under his eye.

"Hello Slick – did a Niffler find gold in your throat?" I said pointing at the marks, unable to hide my smile.

He blushed and flipped his collar up completely to hide the bruises and gave me an embarrassed shrug.

"And 5_ is_ a bit low for your first kiss, Remus."

"Is it supposed to be so wet?" he mumbled and I held back a laugh. He was really quite brilliant for not mentioning his idiot friend. Maybe he didn't know it, but I much preferred listening to his adorable first kiss problems than thinking about mine.

"Well, too much tongue is never good. But it depends on the situation really. Did you like it?"

His cheeks were scarlet. "I don't really know. She was very nice and patient with me at first because I was so pathetic and clueless…but…"

"But she's a terrible snogger?"

"No!" Remus said, covering his face. "I don't know. I just…I don't think I'm right for her. She only seemed to like me once I'd got this," he added pointing at his black eye.

"And she thought she'd better give you something on your neck to match?"

"Kate!" Remus said, hitting his forehead on the table.

I ruffled his hair and put a 5 under the score for Sarah Hobbs with a little flourish. Thank Merlin; I wouldn't have to lie to get him to drop her. He turned to the side and winced.

"Actually, do we have to score? It's so…vulgar."

I smiled and flicked my wand to make the column disappear. "It's your chart Remus – we do what you want."

"How are you?" he said, propping his head up on his hand as he looked at me. "Did Sirius find you?"

Ugh. Just when I was starting to think he was the most perfect person alive.

"Was he looking for me?"

Remus shrugged and opened up his bag, placing the ink bottle carefully in front of him and the quill to its right. Finally he drew out his Defence textbook and a sheet of parchment. I watched, my mind running through all of the events from the day and wondering why after I'd just brushed Lily off, I suddenly felt like talking to Remus about it. Maybe it was because Sirius was his friend – I was looking for some kind of inside look at why he acted the way he did. And as nice as Lily was to say he didn't deserve me if he didn't change, I needed a more…neutral party.

"Do you think I overreacted?" I asked, fiddling with my quill.

"I didn't see how he was looking at her, but I think if you felt that way then you were justified in letting him know," he said diplomatically. Even though I wasn't looking directly at him, I saw his eyes flicker up to look at me as he bent over his parchment. They looked worried.

"Why does it keep happening?" I said sadly after a few more moments of silence. "Aren't I enough?"

He clicked his tongue and furrowed his eyebrows as he appraised me. He waited until I looked up at him and I suddenly felt a little cautious and stupid. I would never voice that kind of concern around Sirius or James…but Remus, he was different. Even if he thought I was ridiculous, he would never ever say so. My insecurities were safe with him, just as apparently his were with me. Because, I'd just realized, he'd never actually admitted before today that he'd never kissed anyone before. And I think he knew that I would never share his admission of being clueless during the snog, with anyone else.

He was still looking at me thoughtfully and I was patient as I looked back at him. Remus always chose his words carefully.

"Of course you are. Kate, you are hilarious and kind and caring and_ beautiful – _you are _more_ than enough. Too much sometimes – with all your dramatics," he said with a gentle smile.

I looked at the table feeling my ears go a little warm. I picked up my quill for something to do and shrugged offhandedly.

"Beautiful, bah! What about Lily or Dorcas or Emmeline…or Lizzy or any oth–"

He scoffed and cut me off. "Don't compare yourself to anyone else. Look, to…er, to Sirius, _you_ are the most beautiful girl in this castle."

I felt for the first time more unhinged by something he'd said, than the way he looked in response to most things I said. My insides squirmed at the compliment.

"Yeah but how many castles has he been in?"

Remus rolled his eyes and looked down at his textbook, ignoring me. I watched for a moment as he read through some passages. I was hot under my collar and I had no idea why I felt so weird – I'd basically said the same thing to Remus just a few days ago. Why did hearing my words repeated back at me make me feel all odd and jittery?

"I'm all embarrassed now," I laughed, fanning a hand in front of my face. He looked up and chuckled.

"He's never really said that, has he?" I asked.

He bit the end of his quill and I noticed that unlike me, he didn't need to spit out any feathers.

"Well, maybe not exactly that way."

"Ah yes. What did he _actually_ say? 'Excellent tits,' I suppose – 'decent arse,' maybe."

"You know just how to turn the tables. Just say…tits and arse and you're not the embarrassed one anymore," he said quietly, his cheeks glowing.

I laughed again and then sighed heavily and ignoring his embarrassment. "You see! That's all I really needed – some reassurance, a bit of affection that has nothing to do with snogging. Why can't _he_ see that?"

Remus shrugged and started to write something. I saw that he was still a bit red – even the word 'tits' out of his mouth had him blushing like a child. It was so…_charming_. I hoped having a girlfriend wouldn't squeeze this innocence and modesty out of him – I would miss it too much.

"Sirius is just…I don't know. I don't think he realizes that it actually upsets you – he thinks it's a laugh and a kind of game you two play," he said.

"Yeah, Lily said something like that too."

"Talk to him," Remus encouraged. "He might surprise you."

"How come _you_ just understand though," I sighed. "I bet Sarah won't have to deal with you flirting with other girls."

He looked uncomfortable. "I don't think I'm going to ask her out, actually. I feel sick about it – but I think I should feel more for someone before I start anything with them. I should have never kissed her in the first place. She's really nice and pretty but it was almost impossible to make conversation, we don't have similar interests. She likes the Crowing Codswallops, for example." He made a retching sound.

"Oh thank Merlin!" I said, leaning my forehead to his shoulder. "She was so wrong for you."

He chuckled and patted my head before he moved away. "Any tips on how to break it to her gently? I don't want to offend her."

"You're asking the wrong person," I sighed, thinking of Sirius again.

* * *

_A/N: Phewf that was a lot. I'm actually really enjoying writing Remus - he's so different to how I wrote Sirius in Bottle-Specs, it's a nice challenge. Thanks for reading!_


	7. Who do I flirt with?

_A/N: Thank you all for your lovely words in your reviews and for the follows and favorites. If I was smart, I would really slow down the updating so that I can write ahead and avoid the dreaded block that may come, but since I'm on a roll, I might as well post. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Seven: Who do I flirt with?

The next day I woke up feeling less depressed. I just needed to talk to Sirius and sort it all out. Maybe he'd break up with me for good, but at least then I could move on. There were plenty of other cute lads to snog at Hogwarts – who needed him?

Still though, the thought of speaking to him was oddly intimidating. As usual, he didn't seem to be bothered in the least by our argument or the fact that we had now not spoken in over a day. He was laughing during Care of Magical Creatures when I arrived with Lily and Dorcas, pointing at Bertram Aubrey's new headgear – an even sturdier looking metal helmet with a buckle – and wiping tears from his eyes. James was laughing beside him but upon seeing Lily, forced himself to simply hold back a grin.

"Oh give it a rest Black!" Lily said nodding kindly at Bertram. "I think he looks cool – like he's from the future or something."

I watched as James' mouth fell open and Sirius' eyebrows twitched together. He met my eyes for the first time in over a day, and for a moment, I thought we were both going to burst into laughter. But then he looked away and rolled his eyes at James.

"There you go Prongs – just borrow Aubrey's helmet and Evans will be all over you," Sirius said.

I fought another smile and sat down on the grass beside Dorcas without looking at Sirius. If I wasn't careful, he'd make me laugh and the quaffle would no longer be in my hands. Dorcas elbowed me and her eyes were shining with mirth, so I squeezed her hand and we both turned to watch Lily with her typical look of rage. Bertram was blushing and muttering to himself. He was probably thinking of a way to correct Sirius' grammar and forgot to stand up for himself.

"Leave him alone," she said firmly and Bertram's eyes fell on her face. He gave her a kind of simpering look and I fought not to laugh again.

I muttered, "I thought he fancied you, Dorcas," and groaned when she shoved me in to the grass. She was so violent!

"Chill Padfoot," James said when Sirius opened his mouth to send another retort at Lily. "You are literally giving me an ulcer."

Lily looked surprised, but Sirius just rolled his eyes and scowled.

"You're just saying that because of her," he muttered, but even so, he gave up on teasing Bertram and leaned back against his hands. His eyes flickered to me and although they looked cool and indifferent – he unexpectedly gave me one of his half-smiles. Because I was so taken aback by the friendly gesture, I didn't respond, and he immediately seemed to lose interest and look away from me towards Kettleburn. It was obviously 'not enough' from my end. Agh, stop it, Kate.

"You know," Bertram said suddenly, glancing at Lily as she sat down with Dorcas and me. "Potter – the term you should have used was 'figuratively' – Black didn't literally give you an ulcer."

There was a pregnant pause and Lily sighed.

"He doesn't do himself any favours, does he?"

Sirius let out his bark-laugh and James furrowed his brow at Bertram.

"Aubrey, shut up before I _literally_ give_ you_ a bleeding ulcer."

Lily, Dorcas and I only had one Free all together since they took so many subjects but, annoyingly, they wanted to spend it in the Library – _again_. I mean I wasn't as allergic to the place as Sirius and James were, but occasionally I quite liked to faff away my time in the Common Room playing Snap or taking a nap or…heh, acting like a prat.

"That's a half rhyme right?" I asked my friends and they stared at me like I had two heads. I made an inward note to write it down and run it by Remus – we'd been writing a song about procrastination and hadn't worked on it in weeks.

"Anyway," I said flipping my hair over my shoulder. "Frees are supposed to be – just that – messing about once in a while."

Dorcas and Lily exchanged a look and Dorcas sighed heavily, pursing her lips in such a Mafalda-like way, I wondered why Lily had been made Prefect when such an uncomical girl existed in our year.

"Free lessons are for studying and taking the pressure off during the highly-stressful NEWT years," she said mimicking McGonagall to a T.

"Oh Minerva my dear, I didn't see you there!" I said, grabbing her hand and shaking it pompously.

Dorcas' pupils disappeared under her eyelids for a moment and I shrieked.

"Alas! I am mistaken – you're clearly Mafalda not Minerva!"

Lily laughed and I grinned as Dorcas swore under her breath. She was très ennuyeux just like my sister.

And then, as if I had summoned her, I heard a voice yell, "Kate!"

Oh bollocks and bugger it all to Bristol. I'd forgotten the Ravenclaw Common Room was near the Library.

"Oh no! Lily – please protect me," I begged as we all stopped and turned to see my sister running towards us, her hair looking frazzled and more out of place than usual. Dorcas gave a slightly evil laugh, and Lily laughed only marginally more kindly when she shoved me away from hiding behind her. I had quite forgotten in the past day and a half that the Marauders had embarrassed Mafalda's boyfriend on my behalf. The news must have only just reached her – swotty Prefect circles weren't as gossipy as the rest of the school. She had halted in front of us now and I braced myself, expecting the worst.

I gave a yelp of surprise however, as she threw her arms around me and I sighed in relief, hugging her back. I raised my eyebrow over Mafalda's head at Lily, who shrugged looking equally puzzled. Dorcas looked a bit putout and I bit back a grin.

"It's okay Maffie," I said, patting her on the head a bit. She let go of me and I was alarmed to see that tears were in her eyes as she looked up at me with concern. It was a very foreign look on her face.

"I just heard what happened with you and Kyle on Tuesday. I couldn't believe it! And he had the nerve to tell me like I was going to yell at_ you_ for it!"

"Well," I said, still looking at my friends as their mouths dropped open in surprise. "To be fair to him – I was shouting quite loudly."

"Oh I know – you were probably throwing a tantrum – but he had no reason to yell at you and throw those cards in your face. And he had no right to interfere in your argument like that either. That was _your_ business! It's your Common Room too and if you want to yell – you yell!" she said, stamping her foot.

"_Mafalda_! Is that you?" I asked in shock and I heard Dorcas give a harrumph of agreement.

My sister laughed, wiping her eyes. "I've finished with him. He has an awful temper. I can't believe he hit your friend Remus as well. Especially when, from what I hear from Marlene, he was trying to keep the peace!"

"He almost hit Sirius too," I said, hoping for a little sympathy towards my boyfriend who she hated. I knew we were fighting, but still – I so rarely had opportunities to hear my sister say kind words about him – I had to take advantage.

Her lips pressed together and she shrugged.

"Well yes, he shouldn't have almost hit him either. Although – I believe the pink hair was your fella's handiwork?"

"Could have been any of them to be honest," Lily said. "It was a huge scuffle."

"Although Sirius does have quite the talent for colour-changing charms," Dorcas added.

"Kyle's seen that they've all lost points, but I took points from him too so it would be fair," Mafalda nodded. "Thank Merlin I'm not in Gryffindor."

I laughed. "They'll win back those points tenfold by the end of the month. We play you in Quidditch in a week and you know how that usually goes! Don't think you'll beat us out of the House Cup again this year!"

My sister laughed and patted me on the back. "We'll see – Mum and Dad have a bet on whose House will win this year. Anyway, I better get off to Transfiguration – I'm very nearly late."

With that, she hugged me, and then a bewildered Lily and a chuckling Dorcas before shooting off down the corridor at top speed.

"Your sister confuses me," Lily said.

At the end of the day, I went down to the Pitch after wolfing down dinner to catch the end of practice. James was bellowing orders at everyone and I wasn't surprised to see them all looking out of breath and annoyed at him. He took Quidditch so seriously – like it was a matter of life or death. Surely he'd let them go to dinner soon – I mean how long can you fly on an empty stomach anyway?

My eyes strayed to where Sirius was chatting to Lizzy. She was blushing as he tossed his Beater bat back and forth between his hands, probably making some awful joke. Ugh. Why did he always seem perfectly at ease whenever we had fights? I was sitting around questioning our whole reason for being together and he was cracking jokes. I saw him nudge Lizzy playfully and watch as she flew off towards James and I felt a stab of jealousy. He hadn't looked at me like that in months. He was used to me now and was getting bored, I was sure of it. Or maybe he was sick of the drama and Lizzy was nice and reasonable, therefore more attractive than me. And I guess she was good at Quidditch and he liked talented people – she did look a bit striking and athletic as she swooped over to the team huddle. I guess it must have been the only place she felt confident – I bet if I tried to talk to her now, she wouldn't even stutter.

Sirius had tried to teach me Quidditch last year when we'd still been in our awkward why-the-hell-hasn't-he-asked-me-out-yet phase, and I'd been trying to impress him. It went pretty abysmally – I was quite good on a broom and had grinned when his eyes did that drift out of focus thing, but once it came to trying to catch the Quaffle, I had fallen apart. Actually fallen apart: I'd been thrown off his broom and ended up dislocating my shoulder and breaking three bones in my arm. Remus and I had come up with one of our best songs while I was in the Hospital Wing – 'You Love Quidditch but it Breaks my Bones' and Sirius had felt so guilty about it, he couldn't even bear to visit me more than once.

As I sighed, I saw his eyes flicker around the Pitch and come to a stop at the stands where I was sitting. I gave him a feeble wave and saw his whole body slump with tiredness – the previous good humour gone in an instant. Just the way every girl wishes their boyfriend would look at them.

After calling something to James, who was barking his head off at a Second Year, Sirius flew over to me and hopped the railing before taking a seat beside me on the bench. James narrowed his eyes slightly but said nothing, simply continued to berate the rest of the team for their apparent incompetence.

"James looks to be in good form," I muttered, still watching him.

Sirius chuckled hollowly. "He has himself convinced we're going to lose the opening match. Never mind that it's Ravenclaw and the last time we played them, we beat them 540 points to 10."

"Well, he was always the reasonable sort," I said, finally turning to face him. He was watching my face with a tense expression that contrasted wildly with the relaxed way he was slumped over the benches.

"Hey," he said, turning the side of his mouth.

"Hello," I said, wanting to jump off the edge of the stands.

"Kate," he sighed. "She's just a mate. Hardly even a mate – just good at Quidditch. You don't need to be jealous."

I fought off a groan and nodded. "I'm not jealous Sirius. I just…"

His eyes suddenly shone with amusement but his mouth didn't give him away - it remained in a grim line. His eyebrows pulled together and after a few painfully quiet seconds, he cleared his throat. "I heard about the Boggart with the Fifth Years."

Merlin! I'd almost forgotten that I was trying to keep that a secret. Since Dorcas and Lily hadn't mentioned anything, I'd just assumed I got away with it. Oh Godric – what if everyone was laughing behind my back?

"_She_ told you?" I asked, nodding my head at Lizzy with my blood boiling with hatred. Why had I even been nice to that horrid snitch of a girl?

"Nah, Krish Kumar did. Don't worry, he said you were brilliant," he said, patting my back. Suddenly, he smirked – his mouth finally betraying him. "So, you reckon I look funny bald, eh?"

I sighed. Trust him not to address the actual problem and tease me instead. I wasn't sure if I liked that or hated it. On one side, it was embarrassing that he knew about my insecurities and I was glad he hadn't pointed them out – although hopefully if this Kumar kid was the one who'd swooned, he hadn't made it seem that bad anyway. On the other side, I wondered – was he not taking my worries seriously just because I'd managed to banish the Boggart in the end? I just stared at him and the smirk faded from his face and he rolled his eyes, looking away from me and back towards the team.

"What?" he asked in a light tone.

Why did he always look so bored when he spoke to me? Why did it always seem like he had something better to do? It was all well and good when you didn't know him: it made him seem mysterious and impossibly attractive – but once you _did_ know him, it was infuriating.

"It hurts my feelings when you flirt with other girls," I said in a tiny voice. Even though I knew Lily and Remus' advice was sound, I still felt stupid for saying it. It made me feel clingy and obsessive and half of the reason Sirius liked me was because I was supposed to be easy-going and carefree.

His eyebrows were screwed up now and it looked as though he was trying to understand a very difficult Arithmancy problem. Which really would have been a feat because he'd never taken the subject.

"But I do it all the time – we joke about it. It's harmless," he said, sounding genuinely confused. It was only because I noted his sincere tone of surprise that I didn't attempt to hit him over the head with his Beater's club.

"Even if it's harmless, it's hurtful. I only joke because I don't want to make a big deal of it," I said twisting my hands in my lap as I looked back at him through my eyelashes.

He laughed shortly and then looked apologetic. "Sorry – just weird to hear _you_ of all people say that."

I smiled stiffly and twirled some hair around my finger. He caught my hand and locked our fingers together.

"You should have said something earlier. I just thought it was part of our act – along with the excessive public displays of affection and the arguing at the top of our lungs. I didn't know I was hurting your feelings."

I laughed this time and elbowed him. "The arguing would never happen if you could keep it in your pants." I regretted the words instantly – it hadn't been exactly what I'd meant, just the first thing that had come into my head.

"Hey!" he said, pulling me to him and looking at me oddly. "I have _never_ cheated on you."

"The flirting!" I argued.

He let me go and looked really offended. He even folded his arms and his mouth twisted into a childish pout. "You do it too!"

"Me?" I snapped in disbelief. "Who do I flirt with? Oh, I suppose I told Frank Longbottom he had a nice haircut last week, but that's only because he's Head Boy and was trying to put me in detention."

Sirius shook his head. "What about Remus?"

My mouth dropped open, but he was still talking.

"Or James or even Peter! You flirt with all of my friends shamelessly!"

I wanted to laugh but I couldn't – not when he actually looked a little anxious as he said the words.

"Sirius! That's not flirting! They're my friends too."

He rolled his eyes. "Right, _sure_."

We sat in silence with both of us fuming, and soon the sky was getting dark and James had finally let the Quidditch team break up for the evening. Dinner was probably already over – the poor sods. The Dictator flew over with a look of unfamiliar concern on his face and hovered near us. Sirius didn't look up – he was still tapping an erratic beat on the wooden benches beneath us.

"Everything all right?" James asked carefully.

Kind of him and all, but he'd clearly never heard of the phrase 'Read the room' or Pitch or…situation. Whatever.

"Yes. Go away now, please," I said in a stiff voice before I snapped my head towards Sirius. "Sorry…was that too seductive of me?"

James' eyebrows flew up under his fringe and Sirius broke into that abrupt bark-laugh and doubled over with chuckles. Soon, I joined in and James just made a face and flew away calling us "nutters". Sirius threw an arm around me and we continued to laugh until finally, we lay on our backs and looked up at the sky. This was why it was so difficult to split up with Sirius for good – we made each other laugh and even though I couldn't help being manic and hypersensitive sometimes, I really did prefer acting carefree and easy-going. Sirius sighed and hugged me to him and I placed my palm on his chest as we watched the stars get brighter with the darkening sky. It could have actually been quite romantic.

Of course the ponce had to spoil it by standing up and dragging me to my feet before I could even point out the constellation that I knew he was named after.

"Okay – no more flirting with anyone else," Sirius said, wrapping my arms around his neck and placing his on my waist. I looked at him skeptically and he chuckled weakly.

"It'll be like we're married."

He looked a bit ill as he said the words.

"Don't look so thrilled," I mumbled.

"Kate, you know I don't like giving soppy speeches," he sighed, leaning his head back with a painful sounding crack.

"Well, occasionally I like to hear them," I said, pulling his neck down and forcing him to look at me. He looked exasperated and his eyes were mid-roll, if you can imagine it, as he said his next words.

"I like you Kate. I chose you. There's no one else."

And because he looked like he might throw both of us off the side of the stands in humiliation, I forgave him and we kissed. It was all I'd really needed to hear, I suppose, though a few romanticisms might have been nice. But that had never really been Sirius' style.

After stopping in the Kitchens to grab Sirius dinner, we stopped in a corridor to snog for about ten minutes before heading to the Common Room to tell everyone that they could stop worrying about us. We were both smiling when we entered through the Portrait Hole but shockingly none of our friends, who were all sitting together minus Remus, seemed to notice or care that we were holding hands. I cleared my throat and Lily shushed me, so Sirius just shrugged and we collapsed on to the sofa together. James glanced at us and nodded.

"Remus is telling Sarah to stuff it," he said before waving his wand so that we were included in the eavesdropping spell.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed as we turned to watch.

"He's being really nice," Dorcas said, shaking her head at James. "He would never ask anyone to stuff it anywhere."

I heard Sirius and James guffaw and I held back my own grin at the innuendo.

"In any case," I said. "I'm glad he and McDanger aren't getting betrothed. She has awful taste in music."

Peter groaned. "Jenny is going to kill me for this. Kate, this is all your fault!"

Sirius clicked his tongue. "Did you tell him to dump her because of her taste in _music?_"

"He's not dumping her – they were never going out in the first place," I replied.

"Poor bloke finally gets a snog and you're telling him she's not good enough," James sighed, shaking his head.

I felt a twinge of guilt at this remark but didn't comment – I didn't think Sarah wasn't good enough, just not right for Remus. And he thought so too. This had nothing to do with me.

I turned back to look at Remus and Sarah and noticed that several of the younger kids seemed to be watching with soppy looks on their faces. I was surprised to note that Sarah was wearing a similar expression while Remus spoke.

"You're really brilliant Sarah and I had a great time with you – but I just think we're too different..." he was saying. "I hope you don't hate me for this."

She shook her head but her tongue slipped out to wet her lips. "Is this you playing hard to get, Remus?"

His eyebrows flew up and I felt Sirius snort beside me.

"No, of course not!" Remus replied. "I don't play games like that."

"Mmm-hmm," Sarah said, twirling her hair around her finger as she gazed at him. I wondered idly if I looked that empty-headed when I twirled my hair. I only did it when I was bored or feeling uncomfortable, so I decided I could empathize with Sarah. Maybe she looked like an airhead, but she was probably crying on the inside.

"I'm so sorry, I feel like such an arse. You didn't deserve this," Remus said, his face still creased with guilt and concern. Godric, why didn't he cut himself a break? They'd only known each other three days – surely this was an unnecessary amount of emotion to put in to a brush-off. The last boy I went out with for less than a week had simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sorry" and honestly, that had been enough for me.

"Okay Remus, you go and don't play your games," Sarah smiled and he looked filled with relief before James removed the spell and we turned back to our circle.

"Remus is such a sweetheart," Lily said with a sigh.

"Er, yeah. Good man," James said, running a hand through his hair and ignoring Sirius' scoff.

"Yes, yes, he's brilliant – we all know that. But did you see that look on her face?" I demanded a little too loudly.

Dorcas looked uncomfortable. "Yeah I did. It's almost as if his lack of interest has made her fancy him even more."

Sirius, James and Peter laughed.

"Birds are mental," Sirius said, flicking hair off his eyes and stretching back over the sofa. "Two galleons says she tries to snog him again today."

"Nah, she'll wait until tomorrow," James disagreed.

"Ahhh Jenny is going to kill me!" Peter moaned again, putting his head in his hands. He really looked a bit sad and pathetic. I felt bad that Fringy would act so unreasonably, so I reached over the table and patted his knee.

"Don't worry Pete – I'll take care of this."

Everyone blinked at me. Sirius and James exchanged a look. Cue the Marauder silent conversation as deciphered by Clever Kate: Sirius – 'Isn't she brave and cool with that take charge attitude?' James – 'Do you think Lily thinks _I'm_ a good guy?'

Peter however groaned even louder. "You are just going to destroy things even worse."

"I take offence! I can solve any problem big or small. McDanger is hardly a challenge."

Sirius' mouth twitched and he threw his arm over my shoulder, glancing behind him in the process. He smirked. "Well, good luck with that, Kate. Prongs, I'll take those two galleons."

We all whirled around and saw that Sarah had pulled Remus to her by his tie and pressed her lips to his. He let out a yelp of surprise before his eyebrows creased together and he pulled away from her gently. He said something again, gave her a small smile and headed over to us with his eyes round and his hands awkwardly fiddling with his pockets. Sarah was still watching his back with an intrigued smile on her face and I groaned as Remus sat on the armrest of the sofa beside Sirius.

"Er…hi," he said.

And then James and Sirius burst into hysterical laughter. Peter joined in half-heartedly even though his head was still ducked in worry. Remus just sat there on his armrest looking sheepish and lost and embarrassed and I desperately felt the need to hug him. I resisted though – feeling hyper aware of Sirius' offhand comment about me flirting with him, so instead I just punched Sirius and glared. He rolled his eyes but fell quiet and squeezed my shoulders.

"Are you okay Remus?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"You look really uncomfortable," Lily said and he grunted.

"What are you talking about? I'm completely at ease," he said with a heavy exhale.

I chuckled and leaned over Sirius to pat him on the knee before I hurriedly pulled it back. I'd now patted two Marauder's knees and I couldn't be sure that this wasn't flirtatious in Sirius' eyes.

"Did you hear any of that?" Remus asked, elbowing a still laughing James angrily.

"Only bits," I said. "You were very kind."

He ran his hands through his hair looking stressed. "I am such a prick."

"Relax Moony," James said. "You are the least prickish of us all. Look, she even looks like she still fancies you."

Remus turned in alarm and grimaced when Sarah waggled her fingers at him. When he turned around again, he kicked Sirius who was grinning manically.

"Shut up."

"Don't worry Remus, I'll sort this out for you," I promised.

He looked back at me skeptically. "How? What do you have in mind?"

"Don't you bother yourself with that."

Lily and Dorcas laughed and Remus turned to them looking terrified.

"Oh no…what?"

"It's just…you know, she's got that look," Lily said.

"That Katie look," James grinned, nodding at her.

"Hey, lay off," Sirius said and frowned when James laughed loudly in his face.

I kissed Sirius' cheek. He never usually stood up for me in front of James. Especially not when my alter ego was involved – he must have actually felt bad for fighting with me.

"I _will _fix this!" I said when I moved away from him.

Remus gave me a half-hearted smile. "Well…thanks then, Kate."

"Not a problem."

Dorcas sighed. "You do know why she's doing this, don't you Remus?"

GLAH. She was the worst. I had almost managed to get away with it without causing any suspicion or alarm!

"Well," I started stiffly shooting my horrid friend a glare. "As soon as we send Sarah on her way, we can move on to Girl Two."

And then, I ran at top speed up to the dormitories, cringing when I heard the usually polite Remus say, "She'd better run."

* * *

_A/N: Oh Kate, you persistent fool of a girl. :) Thanks for reading. _


	8. When have I ever embarrassed anyone?

_A/N: Thanks everyone! I'm glad you seem to like this story as much as I do so far._

* * *

Chapter Eight: When have I_ ever _embarrassed anyone

The weekend and part of the following week went horribly slowly because Dorcas and Lily had randomly decided to start up a Charms club and forced me to join. I tried to tell them that there was no point since I didn't even take Charms anymore, but they said that this was an even better reason for me to come. The stupidest thing was the only students who showed up were Firsties and Hufflepuffs, so we weren't even doing anything interesting. We were just teaching a load of idiots how to levitate things.

Dorcas didn't even accidentally knock herself out.

And because I was stuck spending my evenings in that ridiculous club in Flitwick's classroom, I didn't even get to see any of the Marauders properly outside of lessons. None of them, not even Remus – who was the swottiest one – had any interest in coming to our club because I'm sure they considered it far beneath their cool factor. Honestly, I felt the same way – especially when Mafalda had stopped me at breakfast to congratulate me on finally taking my education more seriously. Even Frees and Meals were useless because as soon as Lily took out her Activities planner, Sirius hurriedly pretended he had something else to do and ran off with the others on his heels. James had stayed behind once to watch her as she chattered, but even _he_ wouldn't come to Charms Club no matter how much I begged and tried to convince him that Lily would find it attractive.

I was sitting at Flitwick's desk on Wednesday evening – almost a week after Remus had ended things with McDanger and watching listlessly as Lily marched around the room correcting the First Years' wand movements and Dorcas discussed some theory with a few Hufflepuffs that included Gemma Blot-whatever-y. I was trying to figure out which of the girls to set up with Remus next when I caught her eye. She blushed so furiously that I frowned. She wouldn't do – she was the exact opposite of Sarah Hobbs and would probably spend as much time as Remus being too shy to act. I suppose I could shut them in a broom cupboard together, but I think Remus might commit a sextuple murder if I did that, and I was positive that James, and probably Dorcas, would come back as ghosts and then force me to do the same just so that they could haunt and torture me.

No, I needed the next one to be another confident girl except not as mental as McDanger. So, it was really only a question of whether to go with Emmeline or Mary since I didn't know Marlene very well and didn't want to waste time by getting someone else to introduce him. I didn't trust anyone but myself after Peter's epic disaster of a choice.

I was chewing on my tongue and attempting to think over Emmeline and Mary's previous dating experiences when three, quite fanciable, Seventh Year Ravenclaws entered the room.

"Flitwick's not here. This is Charms Club," I said putting my wand to my temple and crossing my eyes.

"We know," Archie Davies, the new Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain said, giving me an odd look before letting his gaze swing around the room. "I was looking for Lily Evans."

I swept my eyes up and down the blonde, Nordic-looking bloke with his neatly pressed robes and perfectly done up tie, and raised my eyebrows. James would be sorry he hadn't listened to me about coming to Charms Club.

"She's over there helping that First Year mop up her blood," I said, gesturing to where Lily was shushing a teary-eyed girl with a bloody nose as she dapped at her face with a handkerchief.

Archie's eyes squinted a little and he nodded to his equally fit mates before heading off towards her. The one on the left with ginger hair gave me a roguish grin as they passed and I laughed back before falling back into a mood. I couldn't even smile at a bloke anymore without feeling guilty and worried that I was accidentally flirting with him. Sirius was so infuriating. I'd noticed that he still spoke to Lizzy (I hadn't really expected him to stop,) but I was forcing myself not to see his friendly conversations as acts of flirtation. Never mind that she'd probably seen more of him than I had in the past week. Urgh.

At least we were having dinner together that evening because it was the Halloween Feast. I'd made Lily and Dorcas promise that they wouldn't bring up anything Charms or school-related so that the lads would stay, and although they rolled their eyes and told me I was overreacting, they agreed. I waved my wand back and forth over the Remus chart making the colours change and grimaced at my own foolishness. Somehow, I had managed to get fairly decent at a subject that I no longer took and had always hated. Blast Lily and Dorcas – I hated them.

After the dreadful club ended, I helped Dorcas pick up the random objects strewn around the room and move the desks back into place while Lily leaned against the doorframe smiling at Davies who was leaning casually over her talking in a low, sexy voice. Poor James – he stood no chance against this Nordic Prince. Unless of course, he hexed him during the Gryffindor – Ravenclaw match at the weekend and gave him a few face-boils. I would have to remember not to suggest the idea, I'm sure James would have been only too enthusiastic.

"I wonder how she knows him," Dorcas said as we both leaned against the windowsill with our arms folded, waiting for Lily to finish eye-snogging Davies so we could go to the Feast.

"Arithmancy, I bet. It's her only chance to get away from under James' watchful eye," I replied, twirling my wand between my fingers.

"Oh yeah," Dorcas said in a slightly flat voice. "I wonder if they'll go to Slughorn's party together next month."

"Probably," I shrugged. "What's that for again?"

"The new Minister for Magic. According to Lily, he's an old favourite of Sluggy's. Will you and Sirius go, do you reckon?"

I yawned. "Sirius stopped going to those mad dinners he throws altogether last year, so I doubt it."

Dorcas cocked her head to the side. "But it could still be a laugh!"

"You go then," I said. "Now Lily's taken, I'm sure James wouldn't mind taking you."

Strangely Dorcas flushed crimson at this and I winced, feeling bad. I hadn't meant to make it sound like she wouldn't be asked anyway – oh I was so rude to her sometimes. I mean, sure – she acted absolutely shocking towards me regularly, but I was a much kinder and gentler soul. After a few minutes, she just shrugged again.

"Does James still go to those dinners though – now that Sirius has stopped?"

I nodded my head sadly. "Yeah, but only the ones Lily goes to – miserable git expects that she'll fall in love with him at one of Sluggy's get-togethers of all places."

"If I ask James to take me, will you and Sirius come too?" she asked, biting her nails as we watched Archie grab Lily's hand. Urgh, could they just get to it already? It was eye-gougingly boring watching people who obviously liked each other beat around the bush. I idly flicked my wand up to straighten a picture on the wall and shrugged at Dorcas.

"Remus won't have an invite though."

"Yeah but neither will Peter. They'll be all right."

I curled my lip and let my cheeks puff up with air before trying to whistle. To my tremendous delight and Dorcas' shock, a loud and shrill almost-wolf whistle made it's way out of my lips for the first time in my life.

Dorcas chuckled and patted me on the back as I cheered in excitement, but Archie and Lily didn't look impressed.

We made our way to the Halloween Feast with Archie, whose hand kept brushing against Lily's in the least subtle way you can imagine.

"You know," I said when we passed through the large doors and into the Great Hall. "You could just hold her hand Archie, she won't mind."

Lily's face was redder than her hair, but Archie chuckled.

"Good idea Kate," he smiled, grabbing her hand and turning her to face him. "Will you go to Slughorn's party with me?"

Her eyes widened and then narrowed slightly at my grinning face before she broke into a lovely smile. "I'd love to."

"Brill. Enjoy the Feast then, ladies. Lily, see you in Arithmancy tomorrow," Archie said, ducking forward and placing a light kiss on her cheek. She bit back a smile and waved to him as he headed off to the Ravenclaw table, before turning to me and scowling.

"You are so annoying!"

"Hey!" I protested as we started towards our own table. "I was helping!"

"Do I tease _you_ when you and Black are snogging your faces off? No! So why must you be like that? It's like you love embarrassing people."

"Lily!" I said in a scandalized voice. "When have I_ ever _embarrassed anyone?"

My friends exchanged a look and both of them started listing off random events at such incredible speed; I felt a wave of alarm. I looked hurriedly to the Gryffindor table to search for Sirius but saw that only Peter and James were there.

James looked horrible. Normally, I laughed when I saw him upset by Lily's extreme popularity, but no one could even smile at the look of pure depression on his face right then.

"Okay, okay – I'll never embarrass anyone again. Will you two just shut up for a moment? Look at James."

Lily stopped ranting and bit her lip. "Why does Potter look like his owl has died?"

I scoffed and gave her a look. "Don't be so oblivious Lily!"

"Yeah," Dorcas added and I was surprised to see her looking as sorry for James as I felt. She was a remarkably considerate person to most people but me, I'd found.

"Happy Halloween!" I said cheerfully sitting across from James with a thump. Dorcas took the place on his left and Lily sat opposite Peter, who smiled at us a little anxiously. He turned his attention back to James who was ignoring everyone as he looked down at his watch before turning his gaze to the doors.

There was a lot of awkward silence, which I absolutely can't bloody stand, so I puffed my cheeks up again and tried to whistle once more.

"Kate, why do you look like a puffer fish?" Remus said as he arrived and sat on my right, grinning tiredly at me. "Didn't I tell you that's not the way to whistle? You've got to suck your cheeks in!"

"Well Mr Expert Whistler, _actually_, I was just in Charms club and I did it this way and it worked for the first time ever!" I said proudly.

"And the Wizard Republic still stands," Remus grinned.

"Speaking of your extra-curricular activities," Sirius said as he sat on my other side next to Lily and pecked me on the lips. "How is my Charming witch?"

"Oh yuck," I said turning to the girls. "Please let me quit this bloody club. If only to get him to stop the puns."

Dorcas and Lily laughed and James' face jerked oddly to Lily. He looked furious, but just shut his mouth again and stared at his goblet. I glanced at Sirius and he quirked an eyebrow at me. I shook my head and we all just stared in different directions for a moment.

The Hall was crazy – in a good way. As usual, it had amazing decorations – intricate spider webs that creeped Peter out and live bats flying above our heads that reminded me of Severus Snape. But the best were the pumpkins. They were enormous and hanging from almost every inch of the room carved to absolute perfection and glowing with different coloured lights.

Trying to cheer James up, I pointed to a big one behind his head.

"Look James, I think that's one of the pumpkins we repotted for detention. It's got those letters you carved into the top, see!"

Everyone – James included – looked up to the jack-o-lantern I was pointing at, and he let out a groan, turned around again and thumped his head on the table.

"What does that say?" Remus asked, squinting up at it.

Suddenly Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Oh you hopeless twat – J + L, really?"

James just hit his head on the table as we all laughed and Lily uncomfortably tried to shush us.

"Stop it!" she said. "It doesn't say that – it's– it's just roman numerals or something."

"Numerals for 'I'm a cheesy prat'?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow and Peter and Remus burst into renewed chuckles.

"Shut up," James said finally lifting his head and glaring at his best friend. Sirius continued to smirk, but fell silent. Luckily, the platters in front of us had suddenly filled with distractions in the form of delicious food, so James was able to escape further winding up by stuffing his face with mashed potatoes.

When there was sufficient commotion, Remus leaned over the table and muttered something to James, who just shrugged pathetically. Peter gave him a look and then turned his eyes to Lily before Remus' mouth dropped open in understanding. He patted James on the back and returned to his plate, shooting me a subtle but amused grin.

"So, what's up Prongs' arse?" Sirius asked, not bothering to lower his voice.

"Sirius!" I said as James scowled and Lily studied her goblet of pumpkin juice intently. "He's upset because Lily and Archie Davies walked into the Hall holding hands and are going to Slughorn's party together," I added, looking at him hotly. "Don't keep pushing – they're obviously both embarrassed about it."

Sirius' mouth curved into another grin and his eyes sparkled, and suddenly I noticed that the clink of forks on the plates near me had stopped. Wincing, I turned away from my boyfriend to see James spluttering and gaping at me while Lily's eyes looked how I would imagine green coals on fire would look.

Oh bugger it. I was such a loudmouth.

"Kate!" Dorcas said glancing between James and Lily. "You said you wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't what?"

"Embarrass anyone anymore!"

Remus laughed loudly and when I jerked around to look at him, I noticed that he couldn't stop. He waved me off, so I turned back to Lily and apologized sincerely.

"I'm sorry! It's the truth though, isn't it?"

Even though her eyes were still burning holes through my skull, she didn't contradict me and I swung my head to look at James who was still gaping like a demented goldfish.

"I…uh…what?" he finally managed.

"Good work Prongs. Solid argument," Remus said and I pinched his thigh under the table.

He glowered at Remus before turning to Lily. "I don't care that you're going out with Dodo Davies. I'm just offended that you would decide to choose _now _of all times to start!"

Lily's penetrating eyes beamed from me to James and he wet his lips looking stubborn but slightly anxious.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean, Potter?" she asked in her very dangerous, very terrifying 'Evans' voice.

He cowered slightly before sitting up straight and glaring right back at her. "The Quidditch is this weekend – Ravenclaw is obviously afraid of losing so Davies is clearly using you to ruffle me!"

Oh Potter. Don't even man turrets – just abandon ship! Run for the hills, fly the hippogriff coop – just do anything except stay here and look back at Lily Evans when she had _that _look on her face.

"Take cover," I muttered quietly.

"How DARE you!" Lily said, flying from her seat. "How _dare_ you make this about you! As if he cares if you'll be ruffled! As if I care! What is _wrong _with you?"

And then, she threw her leg over the bench, accidentally (but maybe on purpose) kicking my forearm on her way. And then, without another look at the quite silent Great Hall, she stormed off, her red hair flying behind her like the flames of fiendfyre.

"Something he said?" Remus mumbled and I bit down hard on my lip to stop from bursting in to laughter. No one else had heard because James had distracted everyone by pushing his own bench back with a loud scrape. Dorcas, Peter and the two Fourth Years to James' left jumped as they all moved with him, and a First Year fell off the opposite end and landed on the floor with a thump. I know this was a very tense and traumatizing event for my friends, but I couldn't help but be slightly impressed by his brute strength.

James then swung his own legs over the seat, shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked to the doors at a brisk and even pace. When he passed the Ravenclaw table and saw Archie make the mistake of watching him, he glared and said, "What the bloody hell are you looking at, Dodo?"

And then he too, disappeared from the Hall to mope.

"Well," Sirius said loudly. Several of the gaping students turned their attention from the doors to him. "Who wants pudding?"

And with that simple question, the Hall fell back into soft whispers and mutters, before finally regaining the chatter from before. The Professor's High table had barely reacted to any of the very dramatic events of the past five minutes and I suspected it was due to the wine that Hagrid seemed to be passing out by the bucketful.

Lushes.

The only good thing that came of Lily being furious with me was that I didn't have to go to Charms Club on Thursday evening. She hadn't spoken to me all day, but I knew she'd forgive me eventually, I just had to let her cool off. Dorcas had suggested that I go and try to make up with her, but I had explained to her very blankly that Lily was extremely talented at Charms and I quite liked my face the way it was.

I was just settling into the sofa with the newest copy of my favourite music magazine, WME (Wizard Musical Express) when the Marauders came into the Common Room arguing in hushed whispers. James looked the most furious, but Remus was a close second. Almost immediately they caught sight of me and froze. I gave them a tentative smile and raised my hand to wave before James and Remus stomped over unceremoniously. Sirius leaned his head back and sighed and Peter patted him on the back before they joined us.

"You!" James said, jabbing me in the shoulder with his index finger as he sat down in his usual armchair. Remus sighed, still looking angry as he slumped beside me but didn't say a word.

"James, I'm _sorry!_ It just slipped out, I–"

"Never mind that!" he interrupted. "I have a bigger bone to pick with you than your blatant disregard for holding your tongue."

Sirius had sat on my other side and I noticed that he didn't drape the usual arm around me. Uh-oh I was probably in big trouble.

But why? If it wasn't the Lily thing, then what could they possibly be angry at me for? Was it the laugh-flirt I'd done with one of Archie's friends the day before? But Sirius looked the least troubled of the group. Even Peter was wringing his hands in nervousness as he sat in the armchair opposite James and stared at me. My boyfriend just sighed and kicked his legs up on the table.

"You! Padfoot – knock some sense in to her!" James said angrily.

"_Excuse _me James, but Sirius will most certainly not knock anything in to me!"

He looked momentarily flustered and he ran a hand through his messy hair as he blinked back at me.

"He didn't mean it like that Kate," Remus said and I realized that he was lying in an identically slumped position to Sirius, with the same tired resignation on his face. The only difference was, where Sirius looked uncaring, Remus looked angry – but not with me – at himself maybe?

"What's going on?" I asked.

"_You_ _said_ that you'd take care of this!"

"What?"

James let out a little shout of fury before nodding his head to the portrait hole. Feeling confused, I turned to look and saw that Sarah Hobbs had just come through, panting a little with her hair disheveled. When she caught us looking, she blushed and wiggled her fingers at Remus who gave a low, almost inaudible sigh before forcing a smile on to his face.

"Hey Remus," she said in an oddly sexual voice. I felt a little alarmed at the heat in Sarah's voice and Sirius gave a weak chuckle from beside me. I watched her, frowning as I saw her head over to where Fringy sat beside the window, obviously ignoring poor Peter.

"_That_ is what you said you'd take care of!" James said firmly, his eyes blazing at me from behind his glasses.

Ah. See, with the whole Charms Club debacle, I had kind of, sort of, very accidentally forgotten that I'd assured Remus that I would sort things out between he and Sarah. Apparently, she hadn't just lost hope the way I'd assumed she would after a full week, but now she was following them places. I had to give her a nod for persistence – it was a trait that I had always prided myself in. But this was getting a little sad.

"You said that you'd talk to her and get her to give up on him!"

"I don't understand why you're the one yelling at me," I said glancing at Remus who had now closed his eyes and was pretending to sleep. I shot another look at Sarah and saw that she was watching him with a stupid smile on her face. Oh, _honestly!_

"Because Remus is too nice to shrug her off, and too nice to be angry with you for getting him in this mess to start with," Sirius said sitting up and speaking in an even voice. Even he couldn't really hide the edge though – he'd only been attempting to hide his own anger while James berated me.

"And you Peter, you're angry at me too?"

He looked to James and Sirius and winced. "No, that's okay. You've been busy."

James harrumphed and Sirius chuckled bitterly. "Pete's just worried that Jenny will dump him if Sarah gives up on Remus."

Peter blushed as he glanced over at his annoyed girlfriend, and I frowned.

"Er…what's the problem really? Just wait it out – if Remus pretends to be asleep every time she's around, she's bound to get bored soon."

I felt Remus kick my shoe even though he didn't open his eyes.

"The problem," James hissed before suddenly looking confused. "Er…the problem is–"

"She bloody follows us everywhere!" Sirius provided.

I rolled my eyes. "Well that's not really new for you lot is it? You have the kids running after you like you're The Ghouls or something."

Remus' mouth twitched and he opened an eye. "I don't think people really run after The Ghouls."

"Well, if they appreciated _good_ music, they would!"

"Enough about your bloody band. Kate, you need to do something," James said, finally losing the anger on his face and turning to pleading.

"James, honestly wouldn't it be better to just let it run its course? Once Remus starts going out with someone new, she'll move on."

Remus sat up now and shook his head. "Absolutely not! No_ way_ am I still going through with this monstrosity after all of this. No. Bloody. Way."

I shrugged. "Ah, you'll feel differently in a couple of weeks when she's lost interest. Trust me – girls know when to give up."

"We can't wait two weeks for her to stop trailing us, Kate!" James argued.

"Why not?" Peter piped up, still looking uncomfortable.

"Wormtail!" Sirius snapped. "Lad's night?"

I burst into laughter and they all looked at me coldly as I clutched at my stomach. All this fuss over their loser Lad's tradition? Merlin, they acted like five-year-olds sometimes.

"Kate, please," James begged. "She'll try and follow us that day and you know it's important to us."

I still laughed, holding a finger up and trying to swallow my giggles.

"Oh bloody hell lads – have your night after she loses interest – you don't have to be so strict about it!"

They exchanged the usual silent conversation but I was too engulfed with mirth to think about what they were probably thinking to each other.

"We can't change the night," Sirius said firmly and I sighed and leaned back against the sofa.

"I never should have… bloody shitting idiot. I should have _never_ allowed myself to do this. Now everything is going to be all effed up," Remus swore, tearing his hands through his hair.

I looked at him in alarm and saw that the boys were watching him with a mixture of pity and understanding. I think this was one of those moments where I understood why I'd never be as close to Remus as the rest of the Marauders. Some things, I just didn't understand. Even so, I couldn't stand seeing his tortured expression – as if the fact that Sarah was following him, was going to really hurt her or something.

"Okay," I said and they all looked to me at once. "I'll take care of it, I promise. Just…stop muttering, Remus."

* * *

_A/N: Kate's going to actually attempt to help Remus and Sarah in the next chapter - I wonder how that'll go! Thanks for reading :)_


	9. I had found Girl Number Two

_A/N: Thank you so much for your lovely reviews, I so enjoy reading them :)_

* * *

Chapter Nine: I had found Girl Number Two

I hadn't let the boys cajole me in to talking to McDanger that very second. Instead, I waited until the next day when I knew I'd be able to find her when she wasn't stalking Remus. It just involved a minor lie that wasn't going to hurt anyone at all.

I took a deep breath before knocking on the door to the Potions classroom, shaking back my hair and flicking undone the top button of my shirt. Sluggy had never thought I was quite impressive enough for the Slug Club – even though Mafalda was in it and my Dad too, when he was at school. But Horace _had_ occasionally let his eyes stray over me during Fifth Year Potions, in that very uncomfortable way which creepy teachers like him sometimes did. Why was it that the fanciable teachers never looked at you inappropriately? When Professor Prewett had first started, I'd left a couple of extra buttons undone on my top and he'd just nodded at me and said, "Miss Hopkirk, I believe you forgot to finish getting dressed this morning."

Sirius had laughed so hard he fell out of his chair.

Anyway, I knocked on the Potions classroom door and Professor Slughorn waved his wand so that it flung open and he gestured me inside. His eyes hovered momentarily on my chest region before he frowned and looked at my face.

"Oho! Miss Hopkirk, I haven't had the pleasure of seeing you since you dropped my subject!"

"Oh Professor," I giggled. "You know you don't let students who got an A at OWL into your NEWT class! I was dreadfully disappointed."

"Ah…yes. Let this be a lesson to you, Class! I won't accept any students who receive less than an Exceeds Expectations into NEWT Potions. No matter how _charming_ they might be," Slughorn said, clearing his throat and looking towards his Fourth Year class.

I grinned at them and a couple of them rolled their eyes.

"Now Miss Hopkirk, how may I assist you?"

"Oh Sir, I just needed Sarah Hobbs? The Head Girl, my sister, wanted a word."

"Ah Mafalda – I just had her in here yesterday. Lovely lady, isn't she? She's already agreed to come to my party. Will you and Mr Black be in attendance? I do recall you two being quite close," he said, annoyingly ignoring my request and rambling about nothing.

"Ah yeah, we're practically joined at the hip," I said, fighting to not roll my eyes.

"Well do remind him that just because he no longer takes Potions, that gives him _no excuse_ not to attend! I will be expecting him – after all Regulus is quite a regular," Slughorn said patting me on the shoulder.

"Yes Sir, I'll remind him," I said sighing and glancing at the class with an exasperated look. A few of them chuckled.

"So Sir, Sarah Hobbs?"

"Ah of course! Dear, why don't you go with Miss Hopkirk – your table partner can look after your Potion," he said nodding to Jenny, who was watching me suspiciously. Oh bugger, Peter was really getting the short end of the stick here.

McDanger looked confused and her eyes were narrowed with similar suspicion as she muttered something to Fringy and then walked slowly towards me.

"Oh don't worry yourself Hobbs! My sister is gentler than a banshee," I smiled.

"Miss Hopkirk! What a horrid way to describe your sister," Horace said, looking appalled. I grimaced and shook my head.

"It's a term of endearment in our family, Professor."

He still looked aghast, clutching his chest but nodded and allowed me to lead the way to the corridor with Sarah Hobbs following.

"Why does your sister want to talk to me?" McDanger asked when we came to a stop at the end of the corridor.

"Don't be dense Sarah – this has nothing to with my sister," I said in exasperation.

She raised her eyebrows. "Why are you even talking to me? You never have before."

I was surprised and then suddenly realized she was right. She'd been a fixture in my brain for almost two weeks but Peter never _had_ introduced me to her. Good Godric, I'd never spoken to Fringy either and these two were my favourite crime-fighting duo!

"Ah yeah, well I wanted to speak to you about your relationship with Remus," I said.

Instantly, her eyes narrowed.

"What's that got to do with you?"

"What? Remus is my mate! And you're following him around like a sad puppy," I said shaking my head. "Listen, I understand – he's really the perfect bloke – but he's not interested and he's too polite to hurt your feelings anymore. So, it's really best if you just give up," I said giving her a friendly pat.

She didn't look happy. Actually she looked a bit scary as she glared back at me.

"It's none of your business!" she snapped.

"Of course it is! Sarah, he's tried to let you down gently – why don't you just hold your head up high and find another nice bloke to go out with? You're perfectly lovely and I think Bertram Aubrey fancies you," I lied blatantly. I knew this was getting a little out of hand, but I was feeling a little awkward under her furious glare.

"You just want to keep all those blokes to yourself!" she said angrily. "You've already got Sirius Black, why do you need Remus too, you tart?"

I was shocked and annoyed. Howdare she call me a names? I couldn't help it that I was friends with the Marauders – she didn't have to act so bloody jealous. I was _trying_ to be nice!

"Look," I said, losing the kind tone I'd been using. "He's _not_ a bad boy – he's _not_ playing hard to get. He just _doesn't_ fancy you. Have some self respect!"

And then, she hexed me!

She wasn't very good – I think she meant to give me the twitchy ears hex but only my left ear moved feebly for a moment before I raised my wand and sent the most disgusting curse at her I could think of. She let out a great cry and her face was covered in painful, throbbing green boils. How was that for dangerous?

"MISS HOPKIRK!"

Oh shit. Slughorn had burst from his classroom looking horrorstruck and was bumbling over to us like a crazed walrus. Promptly, he bent over Sarah but she shied away from him and burst into tears. I twirled my wand and frowned. I had probably overreacted. That hadn't been nice of me at all – but she'd said I was a tart and that wasn't exactly winning her any Nice Girl awards either.

"I am absolutely shocked at you, Miss Hopkirk! I _knew_ Mafalda would never interrupt a student's education for a simple conversation. You are completely irresponsible and frankly, I'm disgusted! You will see Mr Filch for detention at eight o'clock tonight and I'll be having a word with Professor McGonagall _and _your sister about you! And don't think I won't write to Othello either!" he threatened.

Oh bloody hell – really – he was going to write to my father? Over a little boil hex? Some people were just completely unreasonable.

"Now get out of my sight! Come along dear, let's get you to the Hospital Wing," he said, putting an arm around Sarah and glaring as he pushed past me.

After heading back to Gryffindor Tower to sit in my dormitory and sulk for the remaining hour of my Free, I collected my bag and set off for Transfiguration feeling a little worried. Remus would not be happy about this. Now I'd probably have to wait until after Christmas to try to set him up with another girl and we'd hardly have any time left to get through the rest of the chart. I suppose I'd have to move Marlene up since she was a Seventh Year and was under time constraints. I got to Transfiguration early and sat at the desk I usually shared with a quiet Ravenclaw called Greta Catchlove. She gave me a polite nod and went back to reading her book, moving subtly away from me as I sighed and waited for my friends to enter the room.

Lily and Dorcas arrived first and Lily ignored me because she still hadn't forgiven me for my big mouth, and Dorcas just nodded because she wasn't a very friendly friend at all. I was beginning to feel a bit invisible when the Marauders burst into the room.

"Kate, you legend!" James laughed thumping me on the back.

"We've just seen Hobbs," Sirius grinned. "Excellent work."

Only Peter ignored me and headed off towards his table without a word – I suppose Fringy must have given him an earful. Oh well, better add him to the list of apologies I'd have to make. Remus didn't look as pleased as James or Sirius, but at least he didn't walk away.

"Was that really necessary Kate? Green boils? She yelled her head off at me," he said.

"You gave Sarah Hobbs green boils?" I heard Dorcas yell from behind me, but I was still wincing at Remus and couldn't deal with her wrath too.

"She had it coming – she called me a tart," I shrugged.

Sirius and James laughed and Sirius squeezed my shoulder.

"Oh lay off her, Moony – at least Kate's got Hobbs to leave you alone finally!" James grinned. "You'll even be able to watch the Quidditch without her skulking about trying to catch your eye."

Remus did look at bit relieved at that, but shook his head at me.

"You could have just _spoken_ to her like you said you would."

"I did!" I retorted. "I started off very calm but then she started shrieking like a Crowing Codswallop and I couldn't deal with it."

James and Sirius chuckled and left us to it, heading over to their seats in the back still discussing the pure disgustingness of Sarah's face. Remus' mouth was twitching at the Crowing Codswallop joke and finally he sighed.

"Well, thanks anyway – even if it was horrible."

I grinned and he rolled his eyes and headed off to his seat. Greta Catchlove sniffed loudly and I saw that she'd shied away from me even more. Excellent – now I was scary on top of annoying. I'd really have to start on that apology list.

I went off to my detention that evening fully expecting for Filch to make my life utterly miserable. Minerva had already told me how disappointed in me she was, and Mafalda had pointedly ignored me when I tried to wave at her during dinner. To my shock, however, it was actually one of the easier detentions – only polishing the trophies. I suppose the only torture would be, having to see my friends' names on a gazillion of them. I had also expected to be alone because the teachers knew how much that drove me crazy, but to my relief Emmeline Vance was also in the trophy room when I arrived.

Filch gave us some horrible speech that I didn't take any notice of, and that Emmeline rolled her eyes at, before he confiscated our wands and left us to it promising to check on us every half an hour to make sure we weren't mucking about.

"H'lo Em," I said in a tired voice as I picked up the first shield.

Argh – 'James Potter certificate for distinction in OWL Transfiguration.'

"Hiya Kate," she replied as she started to polish a trophy. "What did you do then?"

"Hexed that Fourth Year twat, Sarah Hobbs," I muttered and she laughed.

"Oh – Scary Sarah? Well done," she said with an approving nod.

"And you?"

She rolled her eyes. "McGonagall heard me slagging off Lizzy Cole."

I didn't answer because even if I had just sort of slagged off Sarah Hobbs, as a general rule, I didn't much like gossiping behind other girls' backs. Unless they called me a tart – then they deserved worse.

"You don't like her either, right?" Emmeline said. "There was that Boggart."

I glanced at her and saw that she was grinning. "You were there too," I reminded her. "And I think that Boggart was confused to start with."

"Right…" she said. "Actually, I shouldn't really have been slagging her off in the first place – I'm just a bit jealous of her, I suppose. She took my place on the Quidditch team."

"I thought you quit."

"Yeah, but I didn't expect everyone to gush over her like this! I thought they'd miss me at least. I mean, I was pretty good," she said pouting.

I laughed and patted her on the back. "Don't worry – James was furious when you quit, he thought he'd never find anyone as good as you."

She looked doubtful but grinned as we picked up the Quidditch Cup and groaned at the dirt. It was filthy!

"D'you reckon Filch dirties them up before detentions? There's no way this could have happened on its own!" she said as we scrubbed at the dried mud.

"He definitely does," I agreed. "Ugh look, I think that's chewing gum. Not it!"

I touched my nose and she scowled at me, squealing as she scraped it off with her fingernails and then mimed puking into the cup.

I laughed at that and smiled. Emmeline was a laugh. I hadn't always gotten along with her because we had both, at one time or another, been girlfriends of Sirius. But we'd had a detention together last year as well, and had worked out our differences when she made a joke about how when Sirius tried to tickle you, he actually dug his fingers in so hard – it was more like knives stabbing you. Very unattractive.

She was actually a lot like me – but had a bit of a better filter than I did. Although, maybe instead of just letting words fly out of her mouth without thinking the way I did, she just talked behind people's backs instead. I suppose that wasn't wonderful – but no one was perfect. The only question was – was she right for Remus? What kind of things did she like besides Quidditch?

"So Emmeline, what's your favourite book?" I asked idly.

She raised her eyebrow at me and shrugged. "Witch Weekly?"

Bugger it all.

"Music?"

She was looking at me very oddly now but seemed to decide to go with it.

"I like Artemis Proctor, Jane Wolff. Oh Celestina, of course."

Puke. Come ON Emmeline – just give me _something_ to work with!

"Why are you interrogating me anyway, Kate?"

I sighed and stopped polishing to lean back against the cabinet. She did the same, waiting for my confession.

"Not sure if you know…but I've been trying to set Remus Lupin up with some girls. And Sarah Hobbs was the first disaster – I need someone much better to introduce him to, or he'll give up on the plan altogether!"

Emmeline started to laugh and held her hand up when I threw her a look of confusion. She doubled over and giggled for another minute or so before I flicked a bit of polish at her and she regained her wits.

"Sorry, but Sarah and Remus seem like a total mismatch," she grinned. "I mean, I was surprised when I noticed she was following him everywhere, but now I know it was a set up – it's even worse!" She went off into gales of laughter again and I couldn't help but crack a smile of my own.

"Well it was Peter's suggestion. You're mine."

She stopped laughing and raised her eyebrows. "You want _me_ to go out with Remus?"

"Sure, why not?"

She shrugged and bit her lip, all traces of humour gone from her face now.

"I mean, you two have had conversations before. I noticed that you were talking a lot at the beginning of the year – what was that about?" I asked.

"Oh – he saw me at a Werewolf Rights rally over the summer and we were talking about that. We've got similar views on the topic."

Werewolf Rights? That was random. I mean it was a noble cause of course, and I'd never, myself, understood the prejudice against werewolves who hadn't hurt anyone – but I had no clue that Remus and Emmeline were such fervent advocates for their rights.

"We both know people who were bitten," she explained. "And we both know it wasn't their fault. Although, Remus seems to think they still ought to be controlled carefully during Full Moons – I didn't particularly agree with that view. I reckon if they're good people, they already do it themselves."

I nodded in agreement even though we were really getting off topic. But this was excellent – she and Remus _did_ have things in common and they'd already been able to debate and enjoy each other's company. Emmeline was perfect!

"But Kate, I don't think me and Remus would work," she said, biting her lip again.

"Why not? Obviously you two get along and have interesting conversations already! Don't you find him attractive?"

She shook her head. "Of course I do! He's handsome but he's also quite funny and gentle. He's a brilliant bloke."

I elbowed her and picked up another trophy polishing it with a little glee. I had found Girl Number Two and this time I was sure it would stick!

"But Kate…what about Sirius?"

I stopped polishing and looked up a little dangerously. "What about him?"

She raised both hands and shook her head frantically. "No, no…not like that. I just mean, well – I used to go out with him. I'm sure they've got a Marauder code or something concerning ex-girlfriends."

I chuckled at that and handed her another shield. "Sirius won't care. You know him – he can hardly get his head out of his arse long enough to remember he has a girlfriend half of the time."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's true."

"So…would you go out with him? Remus, I mean?" I asked, carefully and crossing my fingers behind my back. Please say yes. Please.

"Yes. If he asked me out, I think I would."

Bollocks. No. No.

"Erm…see the problem is," I said tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and wincing as I got polish in it. "He's so shy."

She laughed and nodded. "Yeah…so, what? Are you suggesting that_ I_ ask him out?"

"Well not if you don't want to. But if you could make the first move…it would wildly improve my chances of success!" I pleaded, smiling and showing all of my teeth.

She studied my face for a moment and then shrugged. "Sure – maybe at the Quidditch after-party, I'll have a go at flirting with him."

I clapped my hands and threw my arms around her, laughing at she patted me on the back.

"Oi! What d'you call this? Get back ter work!" Filch yelled.

I was in high spirits after detention and so, I decided it was time to plead with Lily and beg her to forgive me. Oh, and Peter and maybe McDanger…but probably not. When I got to the Common Room, I waved goodbye to Emmeline and headed straight to Lily and Dorcas. They were sitting at the desks by the windows doing – two guess what – homework. I glanced at the sofas where the Marauders were playing Snap and held back a sigh. Without a word, I silently got out my Herbology homework and sat down at the desk with my girlfriends.

Dorcas looked up but Lily determinedly kept her eyes on her parchment. I noticed that she was pressing down quite hard on the page and the nib of her quill looked stretched to the breaking point.

"Um, Lily?" I said timidly.

She said nothing.

"Please forgive me! I am so sorry that I embarrassed you on Halloween. And I didn't mean to blab it all out to James – it was very rude and selfish of me," I said, peeking carefully at her whilst keeping my head ducked respectfully.

She stopped trying to break her quill and sighed, looking at me.

"Stop bowing like that – you look ridiculous."

I held back a smile and nodded meekly, sitting up straight.

"Kate – you need to start thinking before you speak! I mean, I don't care if Potter was upset, but what if I'd wanted to keep Archie and me low key for a while, didn't it occur to you?"

I nodded. "I'm so sorry."

She exhaled and leaned back in her chair, chewing on her cheek before finally she nodded.

"I forgive you."

"I'll never do it again!" I promised.

Dorcas scoffed. "Yeah, right."

I threw her a look but she stared back evenly.

"How was Charms Club then?" I asked Lily, and frowned when her face fell.

"Flitwick shut it down," she explained. "One of the First Years knocked another out with a flying desk when he was trying the Levitation spell."

"So Flitwick reckons it's too dangerous to continue," Dorcas said.

JOY!

"That's awful," I said squeezing Lily's hand. "Poor you."

"What about me?" Dorcas snapped.

I blinked at her. "Dorcas, who was supervising the spell?"

She looked surprised and bit her lip. "Me."

"You see? You just have awful luck with levitation. Don't worry though, you're quite a good student most of the time," I said, patting her hand.

"I got 8 O's for OWLs, Kate!" she snapped.

"Okay, okay," I sighed. "Stop showing off."

"Did you apologize to Potter?" Lily asked. "I've noticed he's not angry with you anymore."

"Nah, but he can barely hold a grudge," I shrugged, looking over to where he had won the Snap round and was now laughing at Sirius' ashen face.

"Really?" she said. "He hasn't spoken to me since Wednesday."

"Hmm…" I replied, watching Peter as he looked at his friends' game with a sad and depressed expression on his face. "I'll ask him why. And I've got to apologize to Peter. Ugh this is exhausting."

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a mug all the time, you wouldn't have to make apology rounds constantly," Dorcas suggested.

"Oh mug-off Dorcas," I said as I went to join the Marauders.

"All right Legend?" James said as I settled on the armrest of Peter's chair.

"Don't encourage her," said Remus, smiling when I glared at him.

"Pete," I said, batting my eyelashes at the poor bloke.

"Go away Kate."

"Peter please! I'm so sorry about hexing McDanger and I'm sorry that Fringy is mad at you too…but none of that is _your _fault! I take full responsibility."

"Tell _her _that!" he snapped glancing over at Jenny. She was fussing over Sarah, who was wearing a full head bandage. I coughed to cover up the bubble of laughter brewing.

"Of course I will Peter, don't worry I'll sort it out," I said, patting his arm.

"On second thought," Peter said, looking alarmed. "Forget it."

"Yeah Kate, maybe you ought to pack in the problem solving for a bit," Sirius said yawning.

"What are you saying?" I asked in disbelief.

"That you should hang up your Nosy Badge for a day," Remus explained, laughing with Sirius and James.

"Nosy!" I said. "Oh, speaking of – James, why are you still mad at Lily?"

He frowned. "Why did you say 'speaking of' when you mentioned being nosy?"

Sirius chuckled. "You don't think it's because of that snout on your face, do you?"

James clutched in nose in alarm and looked at me in shock. "Kate!"

"I didn't say it! Now – tell me, about Lily–"

The boys exchanged the infamous silent conversation and before I could imagine what they were saying to each other, they all yelled in unison.

"GO AWAY, KATE!"

* * *

_A/N: Kate's moving the plan along! Next chapter will be the Quidditch match and the subsequent party. Thanks for reading - hope you enjoyed._


	10. I have quite a dishy fella

_A/N: New chapter because I adore you guys and because I'm feeling pretty good about the direction of the next few chapters! Thanks for your response friends._

* * *

Chapter Ten: I have quite a dishy fella

Saturday brought the morning of the highly anticipated Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Normally, it _wouldn't _have been highly anticipated, because Ravenclaw hadn't been a threat in years and nobody in the whole school took Quidditch as seriously as James Potter, but it was different this time. Since Archie Davies had become Quidditch captain, the other houses weren't looking at the Ravenclaws like the team who had fallen to Gryffindor by over 500 points last year – they were seeing them as the team who'd thrashed Gryffindor in our First Year before any of my friends had been allowed to join the team.

It was all very yawn-worthy, to be honest.

I always found it so funny how no one on the team seemed able to eat on Quidditch mornings. James was just moving the eggs around on his plate and even Sirius only drank coffee.

"Won't you feel light-headed, flying on an empty stomach?" I asked him.

"Shut up Kate," was his response.

I huffed and looked further down the table. Henry Spindle – a Seventh Year Chaser was staring at his uneaten toast and the Second Year Keeper – a little girl that James called Clumsy Caroline, looked like she might burst into tears. I told James off for calling her clumsy – maybe she was clumsy because she was given that nickname. Besides, why would he want to pick on his own Keeper like that? She was only little! Sirius' fellow Beater – Krish Kumar was biting his nails rather than eating his porridge and Lizzy, oh dear Lizzy, looked positively green. Only Rolanda Thicknesse, the Fifth Year Seeker looked unworried. But then, according to Sirius, she was sort of her namesake – thick.

It was absolutely absurd. It was just Quidditch for Merlin's sake. Everyone would still be alive when it was over!

"Are you okay Potter?" Lily asked to everyone's surprise. They hadn't said anything to each other since Halloween. James looked up, momentarily forgot he wasn't eating, and stuffed some eggs in his mouth. He started choking and Remus smacked him on the back until he could swallow.

"Um, yeah – thanks Evans."

I met Remus' eyes and we both swallowed before turning away from each other, taking giant swigs of our tea.

Then, as if Hogwarts needed more source of entertainment, a snowy owl with the tips of its wings dyed pink, landed abruptly on top of my head. It fluffed up its feathers and I waved my hands over my head to try and get it to come down. It just hooted down at me cheerfully and pecked the lurking pimple on my forehead.

"Really Morag? Is it necessary to land on my head?" I said, untying the letters addressed to me and shooing the bird away. My mother's stupid owl flew off towards Mafalda, landing politely on her shoulder, and I scowled.

"Why's she got pink wings, Kate?" Dorcas asked interestedly.

"My mother likes to experiment," I said, running my fingers over my forehead and looking down at my stack of post. Of course! I hadn't even noticed it between the latest copy of WME and a thick envelope from my Aunt Mildred, who was slightly senile and occasionally sent me love letters, but there it was: A Howler. A-_bloody_-gain.

I let out a little whine as it began smoking in front of me, debating whether I should make a run for it or just laugh it off after it exploded in my face. I didn't even have time to make a choice however, because suddenly, the deep and usually kind, but sometimes terrifying, voice of my father filled the room.

"KATHERINE ANN HOPKIRK. HOW MUCH OF THIS MUST WE DEAL WITH? DETENTION AGAIN – FOR HEXING AN INNOCENT STUDENT WITH BOILS? PROFESSOR SLUGHORN WAS BESIDE HIMSELF – MAFALDA'S UTTERLY EMBARRASSED – I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE DISAPPOINTED IN YOU IN MY LIFE! I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO RESORT TO VIOLENCE. YOU GO AND APOLOGIZE TO THAT GIRL THIS INSTANT, OR YOU WILL _NOT_ BE GOING BACK TO HOGWARTS AFTER CHRISTMAS!"

And then, it exploded, shot out another envelope (a normal, white one) from its mouth and the Hall was still. I let out a wry grin as several people burst into laughter – Sirius and James were the loudest – and sighed.

"Well, if it makes you feel better – Sarah Hobbs isn't at breakfast. She had to have her bandages removed – you won't need to apologize right away," Lily said patting my hand comfortingly.

"Ah, yes – again with the little victories," I groaned, tearing open the second letter. It was from my Mum this time.

_"Kate,_

_I tried to stop your father – honestly. The amount of Howlers he's sent you already this year is getting a bit out of hand. I told him we could just send a regular letter berating you, but he was having none of it. So here it is from my end – berate, berate, berate._

_But it all seriousness, let me ask you one thing – did she deserve it? If she did – then I'll just say 'Use your words, dear' and if she didn't – well… your father seems to have taken care of the actual scolding, so I don't think I need to pile on. Just try and be a bit more sensible, won't you?_

_I will also say, please try not to get in trouble with Professor Slughorn again. Your dad's invited him for dinner now, and you know how much I hate cooking. _

_I hope you're working hard: Professor Prewett sent us a letter saying that you're excelling at DADA. Have you thought any more about becoming an Auror, dear? Then you'll have an excuse for hexing people left and right. _

_I love you – be nice to Maffie! Say hello to Sirius and the girls. _

_- Mum"_

"Your mum is such a laugh. I love her," Sirius said as he read over my shoulder and chuckled.

"And now you know where I get it from," I grinned.

"Not sure where your incredible modesty came from though," Remus remarked.

Godric. Quidditch was _so_ dull. It had been going on for three hours already and the teams were still completely level. The only remotely interesting thing that had happened so far was Clumsy Caroline living up to her nickname when she slipped off her broom through a hoop, and had to hang on to one of the goalposts until Sirius and Krish came to help. I suppose that's what James meant by Clumsy – it was whenever the Quaffle wasn't nearby – probably the only reason James allowed her to be Keeper.

To make matters worse, the rest of my stupid mates seemed to think that the sun shone out of every player's orifice. They cheered wildly whenever _anything _happened and Lily even let out a couple of gasps every time Archie did something good. The others had given her slightly cold stares when that happened, but I reassured her that it didn't matter – no one would remember a thing from the game by the end of the day.

"Have you lot at least sorted out details for the party?" I whined when Remus and Peter sat down after screaming abuse at the Ravenclaw Seeker for elbowing Rolanda.

"Oh…what? Well, yeah," Remus said distractedly. "James and Sirius have been stock-piling butterbeer and firewhisky."

"And have you sorted out the tunes? I absolutely cannot handle it if we have to listen to Celestina or Artemis Proctor tonight," I said, fiddling with my scarf.

Remus shrugged. "I've got all of the Ghouls records obviously, and some Roaring Horntails, but the lads made me promise to spin a variety that everyone will like. Sadly that includes Celestina and – you know Proctor is Sirius' favourite."

"Ugh," I groaned. "I try to forget."

Suddenly everyone around me was roaring with glee and I stood up boredly.

"Yay, go team, go," I said flatly as we watched James fling the quaffle through a hoop and fly a victory lap, his arm raised in a fist above his head.

"What's the score?" Dorcas asked, biting her nails.

"Gryffindor's up by ten," Peter answered.

Lily let out a tiny yelp as Archie Davies scored a goal for Ravenclaw and flew by us, throwing her a winning grin. When she blushed, Dorcas elbowed her so hard that she fell against me.

"Sorry!" Lily apologized. "I didn't cheer out loud!"

"I would have cheered at that smile too – Merlin, he's quite dishy Lily," I said.

Remus raised his eyebrows and suddenly, Sirius was right in front of us hitting a bludger hard into the game. He looked over his shoulder and winked at me and I grinned to myself.

"Then again," I smiled. "I have quite a dishy fella myself."

"Yuck," Remus said before he and Peter jumped to their feet.

"Go Rolanda, go!" they chanted and to my alarm, everyone around us started to join in. It was so peculiar. I looked to the Pitch and saw that Rolanda was flying very fast towards the ground with the Ravenclaw Seeker on her tail. Archie was shrieking after him and I frowned, thinking that I'd perhaps spoken too soon about him being dishy. At least James had a manly bellow. And then, Rolanda caught the Snitch and everyone around me was shouting and screaming, and Dorcas had very shockingly thrown her arms around me, and Lily was next to her, and we were all jumping in an extremely impractical circle. When I wrenched myself free, the two of my mad friends started singing along with some ludicrous Quidditch song, so I turned to Remus. He was grinning like the rest of the loons, but thankfully didn't seem to feel the need to hug me.

"Well Kate, at least you get your party!"

I smiled to myself. And we'd get to move into the era of Girl Number Two.

Remus and Peter hurried ahead to the Common Room to set up for the party, but Dorcas wanted to wait to congratulate James and Sirius, so we hung back near the Changing Rooms. The distant sounds of the desperately irritating Quidditch song was still being heard through the grounds. I actually felt like I could empathize with the Ravenclaws – they seemed equally annoyed with the anthem. I only perked up when a pouting Mafalda passed near me with her mate, Edgar Bones, and gave me a defeated sigh.

"Well…at least we didn't place bets on it," she shrugged.

"Mum and Dad might have though – I should write to them so Mum can rub it in his face!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm sure Dad will love that letter considering the Howler you got this morning," my sister said, rolling her eyes at Edgar. "Have you apologized to that Fourth Year yet?"

"At the Quidditch party, I promise," I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

She studied my face intently. "I should ask Marlene to check for me."

My face fell but then she laughed and she and Edgar headed off back towards the school.

"Here they come!" Dorcas said as the Quidditch team rowdily emerged from the Changing Rooms. James was at the lead, patting Clumsy Caroline on the back and saying, "I'll never call you clumsy again, Caroline".

"Congrats!" Dorcas said, very strangely throwing her arms around James' neck. He looked a bit surprised and adjusted his glasses on his face before he laughed and hugged her back.

"Thanks Dor – it was a bloody close finish! I've got to hand it to Davies, he's put together a pretty decent team this year."

Lily was fidgeting beside me, trying to squeeze my hand but her pinch hurt, so I shoved her away from me.

"Yes, yes – well done, James. But I've got something really important to discuss with you," I said urgently.

He was still grinning and yelling things to his teammates. Dorcas still, very strangely, had her arm around his shoulders and his was around her waist, but eventually he looked back at me in confusion.

"Really? What?"

"The party – Remus said you and Sirius are insisting on Artemis Proctor, but I won't be able to stay if that rubbish goes on!"

James laughed and he and Dorcas finally let go of each other. He looked over his shoulder and called to Sirius.

"Oi Padfoot! Kate is threatening to stay away from the party because of your musical preferences!"

How very rude of him not to take my concerns seriously. He and Dorcas were exactly alike – no wonder they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Sirius was in sight now and to my extreme annoyance, he was chatting animatedly to Lizzy. She was blushing and laughing along but they weren't touching, so I held my tongue. Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Well, I tried to tell Remus not to play any of The Ghouls' stuff, but he insisted, so I would count my blessings really, Kate," Sirius said grinning.

I stuck my tongue out and turned to Lizzy, who was standing there looking like she felt very awkward to be included in our group. As usual, she'd barely stepped into the circle. Funny, since she'd looked perfectly comfortable with my boyfriend a moment ago.

"Well done Liz!" Lily and Dorcas said.

"Wasn't she amazing?" James cried, throwing his arm around her and pulling her to his chest. She turned bright red but laughed.

"Get off me James!"

What?

Who _was_ this girl?

The Lizzy _I _knew wouldn't manage to get a full sentence out, let alone talk back to James Potter!

"I thought for sure when Milton banged into you, you were done for," Sirius said, patting her on the back. "But you held on _and_ managed to score – it was…a thing of beauty."

Lizzy laughed and rolled her eyes and now, I was truly shocked. She was rolling her eyes at Sirius Black? When did she gather up all this nerve?

"Well, I'm off to, um, find Dilys. I'll see you all later," she said, finally mumbling. I let out a sigh of relief – at least the Imperius Curse was out of the question. She looked at me through her windswept hair before she hurried off.

"Merlin Kate, can't you be a _bit _nice?" Sirius said, throwing his arm around my shoulders as we headed towards the castle.

"What?" I exclaimed. "I smiled, didn't I?"

"No, you were wrinkling your nose like she smelled bad," Dorcas said, charmingly. Trust Dorcas to always take my side.

"Oh…well, I was just wondering when she got so eloquent!"

Sirius and James exchanged a look and burst in to laughter and I couldn't quite figure out why. I mean, I know I'm quite funny – but that wasn't really my best work.

"Um," Lily looked a bit fiddly. "I'll see you lot in the Common Room in a bit."

"How come?" Dorcas asked and I wanted to slap her around the head. Archie Davies was in clear sight and the poor bloke looked miserable. Lily was almost going out with him – obviously she was going to go comfort him a bit.

James and Sirius glanced in the same direction as Lily had, and James' face darkened. Sirius' eyes flickered to his friend's face and then to stare at Lily coldly, his mouth set in a hard line. It was all dreadfully dramatic.

"Yeah Evans, go console Dodo, I bet he needs it," James said off-handedly, turning away.

"Oh, go snog your broomstick, Potter!" Lily retorted, stomping away.

"Such a nice, pleasant girl," Sirius remarked and I elbowed him.

"I'm surprised at her, really," Dorcas muttered as we reached the castle doors. "She doesn't understand how serious Quidditch is."

James looked shocked.

"I know!" he exclaimed, grabbing Dorcas into a one-armed hug. "I knew there was a reason I loved you, Meadowes."

And Dorcas' face was the colour of her favourite sweater – if you need reminding, pink.

By ten o'clock, I was sulking. Everyone was dancing around the party acting like tosspots, but I was being forced to listen to the warbling nonsense that was Celestina Warbeck. Someone had even had the nerve to ask us to play the same awful song _twice_. Remus sat beside me on the sofa, looking equally disenchanted and fiddling with his pile of records.

"Just two more of these rubbish tunes and everyone will be drunk enough not to notice when The Ghouls come on," he assured me and I hmphed.

"Do you promise?" I asked and he nodded.

"Promise."

We clinked together our glasses of firewhisky and downed them in one. When Peter walked by with two glasses, I summoned them out of his hands, passing one to Remus and taking a sip from the other.

"Those were for Jenny and me!" Peter complained.

"Aw Pete, I'm so comfortable here though," I said, pouting.

He glared at me, and then a chuckling Remus before he grumbled and went off to the refreshments table to get a new round of drinks.

I sighed and sipped at my firewhisky, my eyes fixed steadily on a chortling group a few feet away.

There was another reason I was sulking of course – well two more reasons. The first was the fact that Sirius and James had decided to sit in a circle with the team and play some mad drinking game. Lizzy was bright red, and I knew it wasn't just the alcohol; Sirius had somehow ended up putting his arm around her shoulders.

"You know," Remus said, nudging me. "It sometimes is, just a friendly gesture."

I gave him a look. "Then _why_, exactly, are you not sitting here with your arm wrapped around me?"

He shrugged, sipped his drink and we both turned back to the party. Dorcas and Lily were doing a pretty funny choreographed dance routine in the middle of the dance floor and several people were watching and clapping along – but I could not understand for the life of me how anyone could dance to Celestina bloody Warbeck.

The second other reason I was sulking, was Emmeline. My supposed Girl Number Two was nowhere to be seen. Actually, let me rephrase that. She was _everywhere _to be seen, except beside Remus like she said she'd be! Right then, she'd joined my friends on the dance floor and was twirling them both around and making the watching group laugh.

Remus chuckled beside me. "Emmeline looks sloshed."

"No, only about as bad as us. That's just her natural high," I explained.

"Where's yours? Don't you usually spend parties dancing with the others?" he asked.

"I'd rather spend it with you," I shrugged.

He didn't reply and just switched the record to put on the irritating voice of Artemis Proctor's lead singer. Sirius and James looked up like a pair of dogs and Sirius shouted, "Oi turn it up Moony, I love this tune!"

And so Remus sighed and turned it up, and we both winced.

"Come and dance, gorgeous," Sirius said, reaching his hand out to me.

"To this rubbish? No way," I said, shaking my head.

He groaned. "Don't be such a snob! Come dance with me."

I watched him, with his eyes slightly glazed over with alcohol, and sighed. He'd never called me gorgeous before – it was just enough to sway my decision. I downed the remainder of my drink and put it on the table beside Remus' empty glass.

"Remus, don't hold this against me," I said, as I got up and took Sirius' hand.

"I'll buy you their next record for Christmas," Remus laughed as Sirius dragged me off to the dance floor. He held one of my hands in his and then with the other, drew my waist in, and we started swaying along with the disastrously unoriginal mid-tempo song.

"Enjoying the party?" he said, leaning down to peck my lips.

"I'd like it more if the music was better," I said, smiling despite myself and patting his cheek affectionately. Ah, it was just a little arm around shoulder action – nothing to get my knickers in a twist about.

"Hey! Emmeline is chatting up Remus," he exclaimed in a low voice, spinning us so that I was facing the sofas and could see Remus over Sirius' shoulder.

Success! Emmeline had finally stopped running around like a loon and she was chatting vivaciously to Remus now, who was grinning back.

"Was that your doing?" Sirius asked as we spun back around and I could no longer spy.

"Well, I may have suggested it. I hope Remus doesn't see through it – he was a bit mad when I suggested moving on to Girl Number Two."

Sirius sighed, nuzzling his neck into my shoulder. "How come you keep at it?"

"Because, I want him to find a nice girl who'll make him happy," I murmured, pecking his neck lightly.

He exhaled heavily and said nothing else. When the song ended, we broke apart and he grinned at me. "Okay, go on and put your Ghouls on – everyone's drunk enough already."

I beamed at him, planted a big, fat kiss on his mouth and hurried off to the record player.

"Remus! We get to put The Ghouls on!" I said when I reached him. He looked up from Emmeline and grinned.

"Merlin, finally!"

"The Ghouls?" Emmeline said, cocking her head to the side. "I've never heard of them before."

"I'll forgive you," I laughed as Remus passed me the record and I put it on.

"Just listen, it's brilliant," Remus promised and Emmeline smiled.

"So," she said as the first, gorgeous bars of 'You Still Love Him Even Though He Gave You Amortentia' started up. "What d'you reckon Remus?"

"About what?" I asked and Emmeline wrinkled her brow and gave me a look. Oops – maybe this was a hardcore flirt moment and I had interrupted.

"Oh never mind – I see Dorcas drowning in the punch bowl, I'll see you later."

And then I dashed off, wishing desperately that I could have heard the rest of the conversation.

From over near the punch bowl (which Dorcas was sadly not drowning in,) I could see that Remus looked flustered and Emmeline looked a little amused. She nudged him and they both chuckled as they sipped on their drinks and eyed each other over the rims.

"Oh why haven't we learned the eavesdropping spell yet?" I groaned.

"Have you seen James anywhere?" Dorcas asked as her eyes swept the room frantically. I glanced at her, sufficiently distracted from watching Remus.

"Dor…um, you know he fancies Lily right?"

She went as white as a sheet and I felt bad for bringing it up. I knew it wasn't really fair – Dorcas had every right to fancy James if she really wanted to. But I didn't want her to get hurt despite all my joking over it. James had been mad for Lily since the beginning of Fifth Year – and he showed no signs of letting up.

"But she's going out with Archie," Dorcas mumbled.

"True."

"I know I'm being an idiot," she said taking a sip of the punch. "But I just can't help it."

I patted her on the back. "It's okay – you'll get over it."

"Why d'you say that? Don't you think he might change his mind if someone else showed him interest? No one seems to count him because of his obsession with her…but if…"

I shook my head. "Dorcas, I'm really sorry. But it's a lost cause."

She bit her lip and shrugged. "I wonder what Emmeline and Remus are talking about. They look pretty cosy."

Feeling a twinge of irritation at the fact that she was able to watch, while I had to look at her in concern; I turned around to see that Remus now had his arm over the back of the sofa behind Emmeline and she was curled up, with her knees tucked under herself, facing him. She was still talking spiritedly about something – her hands moving in front of her face wildly. Remus had kind of a dopey expression as he looked at her.

"Well that seems to be working out," Dorcas said. "I'm going to find Lily and apologize for giving her a hard time about the Quidditch. I feel a bit guilty."

I tore my eyes away from Emmeline and shrugged. "I'm sure she forgives you – you were doing the Hopping Hippogriff together just half an hour ago."

Dorcas just shook her head and hurried away and I leaned against the table to continue to watch Remus and Emmeline. His arm slipped a little and was now resting on her shoulders. Ha-ha Remus, arm around the shoulder was _never_ a friendly gesture. The good thing was that they were chatting and not snogging – I didn't want to have to go through another McDanger debacle.

"All right?" Sirius was suddenly beside me. His hands were stuck in his pockets and he looked a little strange. "James just got off with Rolanda."

"Uh-oh. He's got the Quidditch goggles on," I said. Emmeline was twirling her hair, nodding fervently as Remus talked about something. She laughed and put a hand on his knee and I felt a stab of alarm. Don't rush things Em – ease him in to it gently – he's fragile. They both suddenly looked up in surprise when Lizzy bumped in to the sofa and rushed up the dormitory stairs. She looked a bit ill – maybe she needed to throw up. Emmeline said something and she and Remus laughed.

"Why are you staring? I thought you'd be pleased," Sirius slurred a little.

"I _am_ pleased!" I retorted, turning to him. "I'm just watching in case I need to do damage control."

He still had that frown on his face and I smiled at him.

"Aw come on, Sirius – James will be back with you tomorrow morning."

He chuckled and pulled me to him. "Let's not talk for the rest of the night."

"That, Sir, is extremely presumptuous!"

He sighed. "Just kiss me, Kate."

* * *

_A/N: Couple of miniscule hints about the content in the next chapter and also a very subtle nod to Bottle-Specs - any ideas about what might happen? ;) Thanks for reading!_


	11. Just…who is this 'she?

_A/N: Thank you, thank you sooo much everyone! I especially appreciated someone's reference of the Hopping Hippogriff which made me laugh as I wrote it. Thanks for all your other comments as well. Here's a nice bit of drama... :)_

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Just…who is this 'she'?

The next morning the Marauders were acting a bit strange. I had a mild headache due to my over indulgence in firewhisky, so at first, I barely noticed that they were abnormally quiet during breakfast. Sirius and Remus had been arguing when they walked into The Great Hall so I expected that they'd had a tiff of some sorts. Unfortunately, I was too consumed with my pounding head to really pry. Dorcas was also a little quiet, probably because Rolanda had joined us for breakfast, and she and James were quite sickeningly flirt-arguing over the last breakfast roll. Lily was sitting with Archie at the Ravenclaw table, and Peter and Fringy seemed to have gotten into another fight, so the mood was pretty low at the Gryffindor table.

"All right?" I muttered when Sirius and Remus joined us. Sirius nodded and sat next to me and Remus twisted his mouth as he sat across from us. They glared at each other and didn't say anything in response.

I sighed and reached for the milk jug, knocking my tea over Sirius' lap in the process. I chuckled and Sirius' eye twitched.

"Sorry," I said, using a drying spell to fix the damage and reaching for the jug once more. He hurriedly helped me and shook his head with a small smile.

"That's all right," he said.

It was very odd behaviour indeed. Usually he would have yelled his head off about me ruining his trousers, but he didn't look annoyed in the least. In fact, he was watching me a bit worriedly. Remus scoffed in annoyance and I raised an eyebrow.

"Everything fine Remus?"

He smiled and nodded and I felt more confused than ever. It wasn't usual for everyone to be not angry with me. I watched as Sirius fiddled with his bacon and Remus angrily buttered his toast, and couldn't for the life of me understand what they _possibly_ could have argued about. They had been fine at the end of the party – Remus had kept up his chat with Emmeline and Sirius and I had spent the rest of the night snogging, so I couldn't even fathom _when_ they would have had a chance to get into a row. It must have been something to do with the bathroom or Sirius might have woken Remus up rudely or something like that – they weren't morning people after all, and add a hangover to that equation and there was bound to be friction.

"Dorcas, have some eggs," I said, turning away from them and trying to distract my friend from gaping at James feeding Rolanda bits of fruit off his fork.

Her eyes shot to me and she looked like she might burst into tears. I winced at her and then threw my apple at James.

"Ow! What? Kate!" James said irritably, rolling the apple back in my direction.

"Have you seen Lily?" I asked and Rolanda rolled her eyes, staring down the Gryffindor table with a disinterested expression.

James looked like he wanted to set me on fire but he just scowled. "She's at the Ravenclaw table, the traitorous wench. You knew that!"

"Don't call her a wench!" I retorted and he mimed shooting himself in the skull with his wand.

"I'm only joking, Kate," James muttered; now stabbing at his fruit sulkily. Rolanda opened her mouth to accept another piece, but he ignored her. I bit away a chuckle as she frowned and glanced at someone a few places down the table.

"Well done, Kate," Peter said dully. "Now we're all miserable."

"Shut up Wormtail," Sirius said and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell him to shut up."

They glared at each other again and I puffed my cheeks up trying to whistle. I found that it was really the only way to handle such awkward situations. Eventually, I started to get a bit lightheaded with all of the unproductive exhaling, so I turned to Remus.

"So, how'd it go with Emmeline yesterday?" I asked, deciding that if it was going to be awkward, we might as well go the full mile with it.

His eyes widened and then his brow furrowed and he looked confused.

"Hang on…did you – wait, was she– what?"

"Oh good, I thought I was going to have to pry details out of you," I said, rolling my eyes.

His mouth settled into a firm line before his glare turned to Sirius once more. This was alarmingly odd. Why wasn't Remus yelling at _me?_ I had fully expected to be slapped on the wrist, but maybe Sirius had already pried into his business before breakfast. Finally, Remus turned back to me and shrugged. "It was fun. She's a lovely girl."

"I know she is! She was my choice, after all."

He sighed. "Kate, we're just friends. And we've been over this – I am not continuing with this ridiculous farce anymore."

"But you already have!" I replied.

"Kate, can you take it down a bit?" Sirius said wincing. "I've got a headache."

"So do I!" I retorted. "But if I don't talk, then we're all going to sit here and look off in random directions like a bunch of sad gits with bad eyesight."

His mouth twitched. "You're mad, you know?" He pushed some hair off my face affectionately, and I smiled.

Remus however let out a disgusted snort, pushing his plate away abruptly.

"I'm off," he muttered, glaring at Sirius once more. They were having a conversation with their eyes, but even _I_ couldn't speculate over what it was about. I was thoroughly confused.

Finally, Sirius exhaled and nodded and Remus turned to me.

"I'm going to do homework with Emmeline in the Library – try not to jump to conclusions please?"

I beamed at him and the corner of his mouth turned up before he rolled his eyes and headed away. I watched him with a smile and I turned back to Sirius. He was staring down at his plate looking a bit ill.

"Did you go in too hard yesterday?" I muttered so no one else could hear. He was probably embarrassed over how drunk he'd been – he liked to think he could hold his liquor pretty well. He turned to me with an unreadable expression but just nodded and I squeezed his shoulder.

"You can take a nap in my lap when we get up to the Common Room."

He chuckled softly. "But you've got the boniest knees."

"I'm sorry, did you say bonniest or boniest? I couldn't quite hear you?" I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

Again, he looked a bit ill as he smiled. "I love your knees Kate."

And I blushed. Well, I couldn't really help it – you would've too.

Thankfully, Rolanda had gone off to find her friends, so Dorcas wasn't pouting anymore when we headed up to the Common Room. Lily even joined us and although James looked a little annoyed, he managed a smile when she waved hello. It was only really Peter who was being a massive downer. He started moaning about Jenny as soon as we left the Great Hall and if I hadn't been such a nice and considerate person, I might have pushed him into one of the suits of armour.

"Give it a rest Wormtail," Sirius sighed. "Just go and make up with her."

"This is all Kate's fault. If she hadn't involved Sarah then—"

"Wormtail, I said – shut it," Sirius said dangerously and I was genuinely taken aback. Normally, this would have been Sirius' cue to join in the mockery and tell me what a silly, interfering girl I was.

"Yeah Petey, cool it," James shrugged. "You were the one who suggested Sarah in the first place."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, reaching over to pat James on the shoulder. He rolled his eyes and smirked at me. Dorcas almost fainted I think.

"Don't worry Peter, she'll understand eventually. It's all just quite new, isn't it?" Lily said kindly. "And if she doesn't forgive you, then she's really not worth the trouble, is she?"

"D'you reckon?" Sirius asked suddenly.

Lily looked confused and I nodded. "What do you mean, Sirius?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets. "If Jenny doesn't forgive Peter for making a stupid mistake – does that mean she's not worth the trouble?"

Lily and I exchanged a puzzled look and watched as his normally collected face, contorted slightly.

"Eff off Padfoot – you know it's not the same," James said, strangely looking a little annoyed. It reminded me of the way Remus had looked at breakfast.

"It really depends on the situation," Dorcas said with a shrug. "The whole thing with Sarah was hardly Peter's fault. It wasn't even Kate's fault really – I don't know why Jenny's being so hard on you, Peter."

He let out a small grin and nodded and I patted him on the back.

"You deserve someone with a Fringe of Gold, Pete!"

He gave me an odd look and then chuckled. "Yeah, thanks Kate."

Once I'd settled on the sofa in The Common Room and pulled out my pack of Snap cards, I noticed that Sirius wasn't sitting with the rest of us. He was looking around the Common Room with a strangely shifty look on his face and his hands were fiddling with his pockets.

"All right Sirius? Do you want to take that nap?" I asked, gesturing to my lap as I dealt out the cards to my friends.

"Um…no. Actually, er- Kate, can we talk for a minute?"

I laughed. "Has Lizzy rubbed off on you?"

James let out a quiet hiss of a breath and when I looked up at Sirius, he had frozen a little. That was the last straw. What was bloody wrong with them? Was making a joke about Lizzy's nervousness_ really_ that offensive? I _had_ said it to her face before. Anyone with ears and ears could see that she spluttered a lot!

"Blimey, d'you want me to go apologize to her for _that_?" I grumbled, picking up my cards.

"Kate. Please, can we talk?" Sirius asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah – go on then."

He huffed in annoyance and shook his head. "Somewhere else. Outside, upstairs…just – alone."

I raised an eyebrow. "Upstairs?"

To my surprise, he didn't break into his suggestive grin, but shook his head.

"Outside."

"Merlin Sirius, this all a bit much for a hungover Sunday morning! What have you done?"

I noticed that James, Peter and Sirius were all looking at the floor and when I looked at Lily and Dorcas, they seemed as confused as me.

"Please Kate," Sirius repeated.

I crinkled my brow but dropped my cards. "All right then. Wait for me, will you?"

James nodded and put down his own cards. "Yeah, of course Kate."

That was really uncharacteristically polite of him. Oh Godric – what had Sirius done that was so appalling? I suppose the only good thing was that apparently; I was about to find out.

When we got outside the portrait hole, Sirius stuffed his hands in his pockets again, looking sheepish. So, he had something to apologize about – that much was obvious, but I really couldn't figure out what.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my legs, nodding at him calmly and trying to seem like I knew what in Merlin's hat he was about to talk to me about.

"So…" he started gruffly. "You might not have noticed, but Remus isn't very happy with me. James either, really."

I nodded. "Yeah, I did. What did you do? Switch your shampoo with theirs? I wouldn't look so upset about it, Love. You were doing them a favour."

He shook his head and sighed. "Kate." His voice broke a little and I frowned.

"Merlin Sirius, that was some of my best material. Okay, well maybe it wasn't top tier joshing, but I'm a bit hungover – you've got to lower your expectations. I even complimented you – I never say your hair is nice, which it obviously is – what's wrong?"

He wet his lips and didn't meet my eyes. He took a deep breath and it was surprisingly shaky. "I did something…really shitty to you last night."

I wrinkled my nose in thought and then chuckled. "Oh, the kissing was a bit sloppy, but we were both drunk. Don't worry – I still enjoyed it."

Again he shook his head curtly and finally looked up at me. "No. Before that."

This time, I crinkled my brow. What the hell was he on about?

"The dance? Well I know I complained about the bad music, but I still quite liked dancing with you too," I said uncertainly.

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, beginning to pace in front of me for a moment. I watched feeling very confused and was very aware that my ears were growing warm and my heart was starting to beat erratically. What_ had_ he done?

He stopped pacing and I stood up straight as he looked at me, one hand still running through the back of his hair.

"After we danced…when you put The Ghouls on, I went outside the Common Room – here actually – because, well, I hate that crap."

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth but he was still talking, hurrying clumsily through his words.

"And Rolanda and James and…she… They all came out here with me. And then James and Rolanda got off and I swear, we were just talking and then, there was a moment and we almost…but we didn't. Kate, I promise you – nothing happened. It was an _almost_ – I didn't do anything."

My heart was still pounding hard and I found it hard to breathe. I wet my lips, opened my mouth and then closed it again. It was starting to make sense finally.

"Just…who is this 'she'?"

He looked as though the wind had been knocked from him.

"Lizzy," he breathed.

And it all crashed down on me like some horrible blizzard. Because I finally understood why Sirius had looked so off when he came over to the punch bowl last night and why Lizzy had been stumbling up to the dormitory on the verge of tears.

"I swear Kate – nothing happened. I am so, so sorry," he blabbered.

My face crumpled. Tears stung in my eyes and I hated him. I hated him with the power of all the suns and hated her and them and everyone.

"You absolute _arse_," I spat as a tear dripped from my eye. He looked alarmed and out of breath, shaking his head, but I roughly wiped my face and turned my back, practically screeching the password at the Fat Lady and scrambling through the portrait hole.

"Kate, please!" he yelled from behind me and I heard a group of Seventh Years sigh to my left. They thought it was another normal and unimportant argument, but they were so wrong.

"Leave me alone!" I croaked, pushing blindly past a First Year. I saw Lily and Dorcas spring to their feet and James and Peter exchange a look, but I didn't care. My eyes spun wildly around the room before they landed on a girl with disheveled hair and wide, expressive eyes.

"You!" I screamed, stomping over to her. I felt Sirius' hand close around my wrist but I twisted it free. Lizzy looked like she might faint, but I would feel no pangs of guilt for her terror or nervousness again.

"K-Kate I-I…um–"

"_Stay_ the bloody hell _away _from my boyfriend."

"Kate, come on!"

"And you!" I said, whirling to face him. "Don't you dare talk to me, _ever_ again! I've had it! I am done. Go and snog the mumbling little bitch to your heart's content. I don't_ care_ anymore."

And then, leaving him gaping, I stormed up to the dormitory with my head on fire.

"How bloody–shitting–DARE he?" I screamed as I flung my pillow across the room and it clattered against our dressing table, knocking a few bottles off.

"I can't believe– He said he'd never cheat! He said he was done!" I continued as I stomped and raged around the room.

This had been going on for ten minutes already and Dorcas and Lily were standing huddled in the corner by the door looking tense. But I didn't care if I was scaring them. How could he do this to me? He had promised! He had said no more flirting – he'd had the nerve to make ME feel guilty over patting his friends' knees or laughing when some lad smiled at me and then he did this?

"ARGHHHH!" I yelled, punching the bedpost and then shrieking. "Ow! Ow, ow, OW!"

Lily and Dorcas hurried over to me as I swore and shook my bruised hand around.

"Kate, stop moving," Lily muttered taking my hand in her soft one. I winced as she ran her wand over the bruise and then I felt relief. I flexed it a little and gave her a short nod of thanks before continuing with my rant.

"He sodding cheats and I end up with an almost broken hand! He should have a broken nose! Just let me go down there and give him one!"

Dorcas let out a funny cough but when I glared at her, she looked instantly abashed.

"Sorry! It's just – you would never hit him."

"Well, I'll hex him then! Give him some nice green boils all over his perfect bloody face. Let her try to kiss him when he's seeping pus all over her!"

My two friends looked like deers in wandlight, and they were biting down hard on their lips, but I just huffed and collapsed on to my bed, staring up at the canopy and breathing hard. And then, I dissolved into tears. I couldn't help it. No matter how angry I was, I just couldn't – how could he do this? We'd been going so well lately – not even arguing over the little things. Why was he so insistent on throwing away a good thing? I wasn't enough, was I? I never had been.

I felt Lily stroking my hair and Dorcas fussing over the pillow under my head as I cried, but they didn't say anything. They just let me sob until finally I was out of breath and my eyes were dry. I blinked up at them and they both looked sad.

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" I breathed.

"He's a prick," Lily said softly, pushing back my hair and drying off my cheeks.

"I think I might have loved him," I muttered for the first time.

I saw them exchange a look and I sighed. "You think I'm a fool."

Lily shushed me and Dorcas shook her head.

"No, I think you're confused and he's confused and it's just a mess really."

"I hate her!" I said, folding my arms, my face crumpling again. "What does he see in her anyway? She can barely get a word out half of the time, and her eyes are too big for her head and she blushes at _everything_ he says! How can he like someone like that?"

Lily sighed. "Maybe he likes that he can make her nervous."

"He makes me nervous sometimes!"

Dorcas chuckled and smiled. "He never makes you nervous. No one does."

"Professor Prewett?" I said, my mouth twitching.

Lily and Dorcas laughed and I smiled before sighing again heavily.

"I don't get it. I try and act easy-going and cool because that's what he wants. That's what he's said he likes – someone who isn't going to harp on or cling to him. I let him have those useless Lad's nights and I never pester him to spend time with me. I don't understand what's wrong with me!"

"Kate! Nothing is wrong with you!" Lily said sharply.

"But I'm loud aren't I? And annoying," I muttered. "And I try too hard."

"Where's this coming from?" Dorcas said, shaking her head.

I sighed and sat up and they adjusted themselves so that they were cuddling me.

"You heard about the Boggart with the Fifth Years?"

They looked at each other and nodded looking a bit nervous.

"We thought you wouldn't want to talk about it," Dorcas muttered. "It was a bit embarrassing."

I groaned. "Humiliating. And now it's gone and come true."

Lily was suddenly looking quite serious. Her eyes flashed to me. "Kate – you know, I completely support you, right?"

I nodded slowly, feeling suspicious. Where was she going with this?

"Well…can I play Devil's advocate for just a moment?" she asked, wincing.

"Lily!" Dorcas cautioned but I shook my head.

"Yeah – go on then."

She looked nervous, picking at the bedspread and sending Dorcas darting looks before she spoke.

"Well, he told you about it, didn't he?"

I inhaled. "That is completely besides the point!"

She looked alarmed and shook her head frantically. "No, I know. I'm not saying he should have done it in the first place. I just mean – at least he told you. He didn't carry on behind your back or pretend it never happened. He said something. It might mean…well, it might mean he's chosen you."

I bit my lip. There was something to that – but…how could I just let it go that easily? Even if he had 'chosen' me, what was to stop him from repeating the offense? What was to stop Lizzy from pouncing while my guard was down.

"And…" Dorcas added carefully. "Nothing _actually_ happened."

I groaned and fell back against my pillow once more. They were right in some ways, but I still wasn't sure. I definitely wasn't going to forgive him for this easily. He deserved to sweat and pine over it.

"And maybe they really are just mates," Dorcas said. "Mates have those kind of moments all the time."

I raised my eyebrow at her and she flushed slightly, looking away from Lily who was just nodding.

"Yeah – Dorcas and Potter have them all the time."

I heard Dorcas' sharp intake of breath and for the first time since getting up to the dormitory, I felt the urge to laugh. The pair of them were as oblivious as each other. Who were they to really give me boy advice in the first place?

"And you and Remus have moments too," Lily nodded and the bubble of laughter stopped abruptly.

"No, we most certainly do not!" I snapped and she giggled.

"How about in the Library that one time? When he called you 'beautiful'."

I felt the same odd flush I'd had in that moment with Remus and cringed. Oh bollocks. Maybe they really were right – you could have oddly romantic instants with mates that didn't really mean anything. But this thing with Sirius and Lizzy had been coming for far too long – there was too much build up. I wasn't sure I could trust it not to explode into a full-blown affair.

"Just…maybe hear him out?" Dorcas suggested carefully.

"But we are behind you two hundred percent," Lily cut in. "If you never want to see him again, I will make it my personal mission to cover your eyes every time he's in the room."

I chuckled and squeezed both of their hands. "Just keep me away from Lizzy. I might hex her tongue out of her mouth so I can never hear her mumble at me again. And she'd never be able to snog Sirius either."

Lily and Dorcas burst into laughter at that, and I grinned.

* * *

_A/N: Hmm, so do you think this is the end of Sirius/Kate? Thanks for reading! :)_


	12. Merlin, it was boring being sad

_A/N: Thank you guys! Sorry to keep you waiting for this one. Big/not really/but sort of moment in this chapter ;)_

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Merlin, it was boring being sad

The next day was bloody torture.

Honestly, I'd rather have let Peeves sing me a rude version of 'You avada-ed my heart'.

I'd rather have watched Peter pick his nose.

Rather have suffered through three hours of Lizzy mumbling.

Through seven million hours of Quidditch.

I'd rather have done _anything_ than sulk and be miserable and have to avoid Sirius Black. I _hated_ being miserable. It didn't suit me! I was really a very happy person.

But stupid Sirius had taken that all away from me. Because even though I would have preferred to be happy and carefree – I couldn't be. Truly, I couldn't stop myself from brooding and looking away when Sirius tried to catch my eye. The only thing that gave me some small joy was telling off the First Years for getting in my way on the way to Herbology.

"Just bloody move!" I yelled, shoving one of them out of my path when he'd stepped into it three times already.

"Kate!" Lily said sharply. "I know you're upset – but that's no way to talk to the younger students!"

Oh hello Dorcas, I didn't see you there! Now I _knew_ why Lily was made a Prefect. Dorcas should have been one too and the two of them could just skip around, linking arms with Mafalda, barking orders and ruining people's fun.

"Oh cheer up! Sirius is terrible at Herbology – maybe a plant will eat him," Lily smiled, nudging me and I sighed.

I was really a very miserable sort of person.

Merlin, it was boring being sad.

"Have you done the Defence homework?" Dorcas asked as we headed out through the courtyard and towards The Greenhouses.

Yes Dorcas, let's all go through our essays and discuss the finer points. I really couldn't think of anything I'd rather do!

Bloody swot.

"Yeah, it was a fun one, wasn't it? Prewett is such a good teacher. I wish he were staying," Lily sighed.

I nodded in agreement, because even though I was in a mood – I drew the line at being miserable about Professor Prewett. Godric, he was dishy. I wondered if it would be awfully wrong for me to try to get off with him – then Sirius would have to mope and sulk because all he'd have was Mumbling Lizzy and I'd have the Defence Lord – Gideon Prewett.

The only problem was, Gideon Prewett wouldn't have looked at me twice.

Pomona was bumbling around the Greenhouses setting up some green, spiky plants with teeth and she was waving her wand at the rogue vines. Oh good. Just what I wanted to deal with – caresses from fanged plant-life. At least Lily's prediction might come true and Sirius stood a chance at being gobbled up.

We took our seats at our usual workstation and eyed Sprout's scary plants warily. This was going to be a difficult lesson, I could already tell. We'd had dangerous plants already, but this one looked the worst so far.

"Venomous Tentacula," Dorcas breathed, staring at the vines with awe.

Trust Dorcas to fall in love with annoying plants that had shoots and vines flying from all directions. They were basically the Herbology equivalent of James Potter and his hair.

"Urgh, they look terrifying," Lily commented and I nodded. Not surprising that Lily wasn't as taken by the things.

And just as Dorcas opened her mouth, no doubt to spew something from the textbook about how to deal with them, the Marauders entered the Greenhouse. James was in the lead, chatting to Peter, and Sirius followed only marginally behind them. I averted my eyes but hadn't been quick enough not to notice that he didn't look quite as carefree as usual. In fact, he looked downright gloomy.

"Sirius is staring," Lily muttered.

"Merlin, he looks awful," Dorcas added.

And because Dorcas knows just how to infuriate me, I flicked my stare up to sneak a quick look. She wasn't lying. It looked like he hadn't shaved and his hair was messier than usual, but all of that was attractive like always – it was the sullen and defeated scowl on his mouth that was totally unfamiliar. I felt an undesirable leap in my chest. He was_ actually_ upset over this? He'd never seemed sad when we'd fought before. I sniffed, suddenly feeling angry again and turned away from him. I bet Lizzy had turned him down or something and that's why he was all cut up.

"H'lo," said Remus. He had entered the Greenhouse quite a bit after the other boys, who had now reached their own workstation a few yards away. "Can I sit here today?"

I raised an eyebrow but nodded. Remus didn't usually sit with me in lessons – even the ones where he and his mates were forced to sit apart in – he always said I was too distracting. He slumped on to the stool beside me with his back to the rest of the Marauders. I wanted to look over his shoulder to see their expressions, but I couldn't bear to see that depressed and foreign look on Sirius' face again.

"You all right?" Remus asked, tiredly.

I shrugged. "Right as rain."

He laughed. "You're an awful liar."

I turned the corner of my mouth up and turned away. I didn't want to spill my guts to Remus – he'd probably just go straight to Sirius and repeat the whole thing. I knew that he'd been angry with Sirius yesterday when the whole Lizzy thing had been a secret, but now that Sirius had come clean, Remus was bound to have forgiven him. He wasn't one to hold a grudge.

"How come you're sitting with us today, Remus?" Dorcas asked and I felt a burst of affection for her. Sometimes her blatant nosiness came in handy.

He sighed and glanced over his shoulder before shrugging.

"Sirius and I aren't speaking."

I raised my eyebrows but he didn't look at me.

"Ah, yes," Dorcas said knowingly.

"Right, hurry along there Stebbins!" Pomona said in a loud voice, drawing the attention to the front of the room. "Now – today, we will be handling Venomous Tentacula – among one of the most dangerous plants you will have faced. The dangers of the Tentacula are threefold. One, poisonous venom may be expelled from its various shoots." She used a thin beam of light from her wand to point to the various areas on one of the plants.

"Two, its spikes are deadly, and three, its bite is poisonous and can prove fatal. Amazing things!"

"Yeah, they sound really charming," Remus muttered and I chuckled.

"Ah – and of course, their vines are mobile and intent on grabbing hold of human prey."

"But that's four dangers!" Dorcas cried as if _that _was the alarming part of Sprout's additional description.

"Right you are, Meadowes – my mistake. So – on the count of three, I will banish a plant to each of your workbenches and you'll attempt to remove them from their pots and replant them in the soil planters behind you so that they will be closer to the windows. Protective gloves, if you please, and I give you my full permission to swear loudly if they happen to grab you!"

And then, the plants were suddenly at our desks and a variety of yells and shrieks were heard all through the Greenhouse. I burst into laughter when I heard Sirius' husky voice yell, "Ow! Bloody hell, get the shitting thing off me!"

But then, a vine shot into my open mouth and I started choking. Thankfully Remus had enough use of his entangled hands to manage to use the Diffindo spell to set me free.

After we left Herbology, grumpy, sweaty and out of breath, I groaned.

"What a way to start the week."

Lily and Remus harrumphed their agreement but Dorcas shook her head.

"They are really interesting, aren't they? I wonder if we'll get to work with them again next lesson."

"Dorcas, have I told you before that you are absolutely barking?" I asked, wiping my brow and retching. "Merlin, I feel disgusting."

"Well, we've got Care of Magical Creatures now," Lily sighed. "No point in trying to wash when we've got to shovel Hippogriff dung."

I wanted to vomit. What kind of evil torture was Hogwarts making me endure during my day of depression?

"What lesson do you have now?" I asked Remus, who was curling his lip at his torn sleeve. The Venomous Tentacula had almost bitten him, but I managed to wrench it free before it broke skin.

"Free, thank Merlin," he muttered, waving his wand uselessly at the tear.

"Kate!"

BLAGH. As if I needed _him_ of all people to try and talk to me when I was in _this _mood!

Remus rolled his eyes and Lily and Dorcas looked up, their eyes flashing dangerously but none of that stopped Sirius. He caught up to us, panting a little before he stuck his hands in his pockets. Merlin, I was going to have to curse those off. Maybe I'd also curse off the button on his fly and he'd have to go around the school with his trousers around his ankles. Lizzy would _love_ that.

"All right?" he said to my friends uncomfortably, wincing when Remus looked away. "Kate, please – can I have a word?"

"I am very busy walking to Care of Magical Creatures at the minute. Try again later," I said dully.

"Oh good – I'm going there too. We can talk on the way," he said with his annoying, roguish grin.

"Actually," I said, turning to Remus. "I think I'm going to skive off today. Lead the way to the Common Room."

Sirius' mouth fell open and Remus grimaced between us, looking to be in two minds.

"Kate! You can't skive."

"Shut up Dorcas," I growled at her, cocking my head at Sirius. She looked annoyed, but shut her mouth.

"Okay, I will too. Even better – we can both shower before we talk," Sirius nodded, looking determined.

I wanted to scream – I almost did – but suddenly James, who didn't usually go out of his way to look out for me, grabbed Sirius' sleeve.

"Leave her alone, Padfoot."

And then, even though Sirius was walking backwards still looking at me, he let James lead him off towards the forest where Care of Magical Creatures would be starting shortly.

"We'll tell Kettleburn that you're ill, Kate," Lily said, squeezing my shoulder.

"And bring you the homework," Dorcas added.

"You know just how to brighten my day, Dorcas."

She scowled at me. "Don't be so bloody rude. _I_ haven't almost snogged anyone that isn't you!"

"Dorcas!" I said, stretching my arms out in front of me and lunging towards her. "I had no idea you had such strong feelings of lust for me!"

She shoved me off hard and scowled at me. "Go away, Kate!"

I made a face at her and Lily sighed, pulling her away and muttering something that sounded like, "She's in a mood – cut her a break."

"Common Room then?" Peter asked from behind us and Remus and I nodded our assent.

After we'd all washed, Peter decided that he wanted to go off to the Kitchens, so Remus and I decided to work on our Procrastination song. We got about two more bars into it before we collapsed against the sofa and decided to work on it later.

"Are you okay?" I asked, noting that he was starting to look a little pale again. What a poorly bloke Remus was.

He shrugged. "Yeah – cold coming on. Probably not for another week and a half though."

I didn't comment on how he could possibly predict when he was going to get a cold, but just twirled my hair around my fingers. Really though – colds always caught me completely off guard – I just woke up one day with an incredibly snotty nose and wanted to jump off a cliff. What an extraordinary talent to possess: knowing when you were going to be ill – you could plan all sorts of things around it.

"What about you? With Sirius harping on after you today?" He questioned softly, twirling his quill in his fingers and tapping the parchment with our awful lyrics all over them.

"Yeah, I'm lovely. It's all I dreamed of really – him ignoring the fact that he betrayed me and instead, resorting to stalking me with what he considers a winning smile, but what I consider a smug sneer."

Remus scowled. "He is such a prick."

I smiled to myself but shrugged. "Not really out of the ordinary though, I suppose."

He shook his head. "No. Look, if I told him off every time he looked at a girl who wasn't you or made a flirtatious comment, then I'd be telling him off half of the day – but he went too far this time."

I crouched into the sofa and pulled a cushion on to my lap to hug. "Well, he didn't _actually_ do anything."

Remus let out a whoosh of air from his lips and his face was still curled in annoyance. "Still – he's a prick. Extra-prick."

I laughed and stretched over the sofa, curling my back. Remus was watching when I turned on my side and hugged my knees to myself.

"You don't have to stop being friends with him because of me. Just because I'm not going out with him anymore, doesn't mean you should ditch him altogether."

Remus laughed shortly and sighed, patting my knee. "That's very generous of you Kate, but I'm not actually ditching him. I'm just making a point – he can't treat you this way and not deal with the consequences. Now that I've seen him making a valiant effort - we'll be all right by tomorrow."

I snorted. "Some stand you're taking."

He smiled. "He knows that I won't really forgive him until he makes it up to you though. I just want him to start thinking before he says and does things – so that he stops hurting people."

I frowned and twirled my hair, looking at the tiny space between Remus' buttons that revealed his pale chest. He had quite a bit of hair on it – not in a disgusting bear-like way – it was actually quite manly for a fairly scrawny sixteen-year-old bloke. After a moment, he cleared his throat and readjusted his shirt so I couldn't see anything anymore.

"I do that too, you know," I said quietly. "Speak and do things without thinking."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "But you usually figure it out mid-sentence and at least _try_ to make up for it. Lately, you've been trying to filter yourself and that's what matters – that you try. Although, I wouldn't be me if I didn't remind you to try a bit harder."

I smiled at him and he broke into another sweet laugh, ruffling my hair and sliding away from me so he was leaning on the opposite armrest and looking at me over his knees.

"I was pretty horrible to Lizzy," I muttered. "Called her a mumbling bitch."

Remus laughed but covered his mouth quickly. "Yeah, I heard about that. You should apologize to her."

"Not likely," I said shaking my head before something occurred to me. "Oh yeah! You weren't even there to witness the fall out, were you?"

He smiled knowingly and sighed. "Yes. I was elsewhere."

I nudged his knee with my foot. "With Emmeline."

He covered his face and chuckled. "Merlin, I hate you."

"Well go on!" I said sitting up and grinning. "Dish the dirt."

He sighed very laboriously and blinked at me. "There is no dirt. We just chatted about The Ghouls and she told me about this mad party she went to over the summer."

"Mmm-hmm and werewolves of course, but what else? Do you fancy her?"

Remus had frozen and he was suddenly sitting up straight too, a look of shock all over his face. I pouted. Was this the appropriate response to the question – 'do you fancy her?' Funny, I always assumed a simple 'yes' or 'no' was good enough.

"W-What did you say?"

I sighed patiently. "Do you fancy her?"

He shook his head vigorously and I frowned.

"Um…I just assumed you might have talked about werewolves because you were both at that rally this summer," I said feeling confused at his expression of alarm. But then he relaxed and leaned back against the armrest again.

"So, you admit it," he said as if he hadn't just acted like a loon. "You set this up, didn't you?"

I laughed and held my hands up in submission. "I would _never!_"

"Katie, I've said it before but I'll say it again – you are a horrible liar."

I groaned at the nickname. "I didn't do anything really. I just suggested it to her and she thought you were quite fanciable, so she said that she'd like to get to know you."

His expression was unreadable for a moment and I felt a strange desire to throw something at him – usually I didn't mind if he took forever to answer, but now all I wanted to know was if he fancied her back. Why couldn't he just tell me? And why did he look so bloody thoughtful – it wasn't that hard, either he did or he didn't. Merlin, please let him hurry and tell me so I knew whether to move on to Girl Three or not.

He was fiddling with the material above his knee when he finally replied.

"Have you ever wondered if I might be offended by this whole thing?"

Eh?

"Pardon?"

His eyes flickered up to me and I was worried to see that they looked a bit sad as well as embarrassed. "Don't you think I could get a date on my own?"

"Remus!" I exclaimed, sliding over on the couch so that I was beside him. I propped my chin on his knees so I could look at him properly and his cheeks were still pink with embarrassment. I felt a pang of guilt for our closeness but brushed it off. I was broken up with Sirius now anyway, what did it matter if I patted his mate's arm or rested my chin on his knees – I knew it wasn't flirting and that was all that mattered really. It wasn't as if I was about to 'almost' snog Remus.

"Remus, of course I think you can get a date on your own! I just wanted to help because sometimes I think that you don't believe you're worthy of any attention. I don't know if it's because you get ill a lot or because the rest of your mates are such attention-seeking berks…but, you're the best one of them Remus. So, I felt it was important that you started to believe that!"

His eyebrows were creased together and his eyes were a lot greener than I remembered them being. Usually they were quite dull and subtle – more brown, but right now, maybe it was a trick of the light, but Godric, Remus Lupin had some gorgeous eyes. I cleared my throat and leaned back so that I was sitting facing him, but no longer touching. This might have been one of those odd 'moments' that sometimes happened between mates.

He wet his lips and still seemed to be struggling for words. I didn't push – because even though it frustrated me sometimes, it really _was_ one of my favourite things about him – the fact that he always put thought into his words. It was something I admired and wished I could do. Sometimes I did quite well just spewing out what I thought, but I reckoned if I spent a few seconds thinking like he did, maybe I'd be as eloquent as he was.

"You're a very good friend Kate," he said, his voice cracking a little. "I think I understand now."

"What?"

"That you don't think I'm a pathetic lost cause."

Well – so much for eloquence. That was ridiculous.

"Remus, I think you're perfect," I beamed and he looked away, embarrassed again. I didn't much mind – embarrassing him this way was preferable even to saying 'tits and arse'.

And then the Portrait hole swung open and McGonagall barged in looking very angry. Her eyes locked with me and she curled a finger towards her.

"Bollocks. Caught," I sighed as I went to her meekly.

* * *

_A/N: There you go - a little Remus/Kate - but I wouldn't expect it to stick around for long haha - too easy! Thanks for reading._


	13. Is it a date, or can I come along?

_A/N: Your reviews are my favourite! Thank you all._

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Is it a date, or can I come along?

Who gives three evenings of writing lines for skipping one measly Care of Magical Creatures lesson? Minerva was having a laugh.

"But Miss," I complained the next day at the end of Transfiguration. "I already know how to shovel Hippogriff dung, I just didn't think it was that important."

"That is neither here nor there, Miss Hopkirk. I'd rather hoped you would have grown out of your immature approach to the importance of attending lessons after you didn't receive the required marks to continue Charms and Potions at NEWT. I had _thought_ your ambition was to become an Auror – you do have quite the flair for Defence Against the Dark Arts. In fact, the only Professor who hasn't yet submitted a complaint about you this term has been Professor Prewett," McGonagall said stoutly.

Well, yeah – because he was perfect and not a total killjoy like the rest of them.

"Now, you _can _still become an Auror even without Charms and Potions – though you will have to work even harder to achieve Outstanding marks in all of your subjects if you expect to be accepted into the Auror Training program," she continued to preach. I fought back a sigh because as silly as Minerva was being, she did have quite a terrifying glare when she was angry.

The most annoying thing was – I _didn't _want to be an Auror. I'd only said that during our Career meetings last year because I thought she might look down on me if I said I wanted to open a pub and follow The Ghouls after I got out of Hogwarts. And then, she'd very annoyingly written to my parents and then they kept harping on about me becoming an Auror and I really didn't have the heart to disappoint them all. I was _happy_ that I didn't take Potions and Charms anymore – I thought that would've convinced everyone that the Auror profession was not for me.

"But those lines, Professor!" I groaned. "They're so asinine."

She chuckled. "You have quite the vocabulary for someone who insists on acting as if they are stupid," she said, eyeing me over the top of her spectacles.

Well that was nice, wasn't it?

Eventually, I called it quits, knowing that I'd never be able to cajole McGonagall into lessening my sentence. I did suspect that it wasn't entirely up to her though, because in addition to writing 'I will not skip compulsory lessons,' I was also informed that I needed to write, 'I will not laugh at my Professor's inability to walk without a limp'. I always knew Kettleburn had it out for me. It was truly unreasonable to expect me not to laugh – he only had one leg for Godric's sake – apparently he'd lost the other one when he tried to hug an over-enthusiastic Horntail in Hungary over the summer.

"You know," I said as I met up with Lily and Dorcas outside the classroom. "You would think the whole bloody school was out to get me this week."

Dorcas rolled her eyes. "I _did_ tell you not to skive!"

"And that was very selfless but clueless of you," I replied stingingly.

"You are impossible, Kate!" she snapped. "Even worse than usual. Just because Sirius dumped you – it doesn't mean you get to take it out on me!"

I glared at her coldly. "He did_ not_ dump me."

She looked regretful, biting her lip and studying my face – but didn't reply. Eventually, I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Dor – you know me, I think the world revolves around me and I forget sometimes that other people have problems of their own."

She looked a bit confused and raised an eyebrow, glancing at Lily. "Um, thanks?"

"You're welcome," I said patting her arm. "I am sorry, though. I'll try to be less rude."

Lily snorted. "Empty promises, Kate."

I shot her a look – usually she was the only one who took my side, but she glared back at me expectantly.

"Did you need an apology too, Lily?"

"Well, you did kick me this morning just because I took a few extra minutes in the shower."

I stared at her in exasperation and saw that she and Dorcas were grinning like two loons, so I sighed.

"Fine, I'm very sorry for being such a horrid, miserable girl and taking it out on the two of you."

"See?" Lily said, throwing an arm around me and hugging me to her side. "Was that so difficult?"

We sat down at our three-seat bench in Defence Against the Dark Arts and while my friends moaned about how difficult their Charms homework was, I just watched Professor Prewett bending over a trunk behind his desk. He had quite a nice bum, as Professor bums went. I was leaning to the side trying to get a better look, when the Marauders entered the room – as usual waiting to be last. Sometimes I wondered if they just hung around waiting outside the classroom until the last moment so they'd look like they were cool and disinterested, but even if that were the case, they still received an undue amount of attention whenever they entered a room. James and Peter waved at us but didn't say much, just headed to their desk at the back. James had stopped glaring at Lily now that he was going out with Rolanda – but I could still tell that he was depressed by her continued indifference toward him. Peter had also apparently forgiven me for the whole Jenny debacle, because she hadn't yelled at him in almost two days. It was very kind of Fringy not to wait for my apology before forgiving her poor fella.

Sirius and Remus were talking about something: motorcycles - those two-wheeled cars Sirius had an unhealthy lust for, and Remus just grinned as he walked past me. I looked at him a bit unemotionally, because even though he'd informed me already that he was going to let Sirius off the hook, I wished he had strung it out longer. Only the surly ponce stopped by our desk, knocking lightly on the wood and looked at me.

"Hey Kate."

I stared ahead, focusing on Professor Prewett, who had now straightened up and was holding his back as he stretched. You could practically see the muscles in his back ripple.

"Kate, can't we talk, please? Just give me five minutes."

"Do you hear something?" I said to Lily and she shrugged, looking to the front – probably to check out Gideon herself.

"Dorcas, do _you_ hear anything?" I said, turning to her. Dorcas crinkled her brow at me, looked up at Sirius and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Kate, don't be childish," she said gently – even though she was being a cow.

"Come on Kate – you can't keep this up forever," Sirius groaned.

Now that Prewett had turned to face us, I had nothing much to look at, so I did the unthinkable and opened up my textbook.

"You are so bloody unreasonable," Sirius spat, huffing and walking off towards his friends like the drama queen he claimed he wasn't.

"Afternoon everyone! Cracking lesson today, if I do say so myself," Gideon began, throwing out a wicked grin. "Patronuses!"

There were a few twitters of excitement, and even I sat up a little straighter. I'd wanted to learn to make a Patronus ever since I'd seen my Dad cast one when Mafalda and I had been young. There had been a rogue Dementor in Diagon Alley when we were buying my first set of school things, and since my Dad worked in the Magical Law Enforcement department at the Ministry – with the Wizengamot, not as an Auror or anything – he'd cast a Patronus that took the form of a great eagle and shooed it away before contacting the Aurors.

"So," Prewett said, grinning at the response. "Normally, I might have just pushed the desks aside and got you to jump right in, but Professor Dumbledore has kindly reminded me that teaching the theory is necessary for exam prep." He almost rolled his eyes but then turned it into a weird blink before clearing his throat.

"We won't tell if you won't, Sir," Sirius called out and the class burst into laughter.

Ha-ha, yes - how amusing he was.

"Ah, tempting Black – but if you've ever been on the Headmaster's bad side you'll know it's not the best place to be – personally, he quite terrifies me." Prewett was nevertheless grinning as if Dumbledore didn't scare him at all.

"Yeah, us too," James grinned and the class chuckled again.

I rolled my eyes – honestly they could say anything and the idiots would laugh. They hardly had to make an effort. It was very unfair for those of us who had spent years sharpening their wit.

"Right, so I suppose – turn to the Patronus page in your textbooks," Prewett said walking over to the board and waving his wand so that a long list of instructions appeared.

"Which one is that?" a cranky Slytherin asked.

"Ah…" Prewett grinned and saw that Dorcas had her hand in the air. "Dorcas will tell us, won't she?"

She looked breathless as he nodded to her and she smiled and said, "Page 247, Sir."

"Excellent, and I suppose I should probably get you to read through the paragraph, right?" He looked to Lily, who rolled her eyes and grinned at him.

"Yes Sir, I believe that would be an appropriate teaching method."

"What would I do without you all?" he said charmingly and Lily and Dorcas giggled while the rest of the class chortled. Even I joined in this time – you really couldn't help but laugh with Professor Prewett because even though he pretended to be clueless, he was really just poking fun at the whole educational system, which I found to be highly admirable, along with breathtakingly sexy.

And then, I stopped laughing abruptly because there was a knock on the door and I saw that Lizzy was looking in the window. Her hair looked particularly nice today – she'd had a blunt fringe cut and she wasn't wearing the rest of it in a plait or ponytail for once, and it framed her face in a disgustingly attractive way. Her eyes looked enormous and despite what I might have said in the privacy of my dormitory – they were annoyingly lovely and blue. I scowled and glared down at my textbook. The room had fallen unusually silent and the air felt think with tension – I could feel several eyes dart to me, but I ignored them.

"Miss Cole! To what do we owe the pleasure? Come to seek revenge on Katherine?" Prewett said, winking at me.

I stared back coolly as Lizzy blushed and suddenly, I wasn't quite as enamoured with the Defence Professor as usual.

"Trust me, Professor – I'm not scared," I said, glaring at Lizzy. A few of my classmates let out a quiet hum of _'Ooohs,'_ but I did not move my eyes from the trembling Fifth Year. Her face turned even redder and she hid behind her unfairly interesting hair as she turned back to Prewett.

"Um..." Prewett looked a bit lost for words at this, watching my face for a second, but then shook it off and nodded kindly at the stupid, blushing girl. "Well, Miss Cole?"

"Er, Sir – Professor McGonagall sent me to find out what you wanted me to do for my, um, detention," she said, tucking some hair behind her ear and then wincing and letting it fall over her face again. Her eyes darted to someone behind me and I didn't have to be a Legilimens to know it was Sirius.

"Did I give you a detention?" Prewett asked puzzledly. "What for?"

"Um, I didn't hand in three homeworks," she muttered embarrassedly. What a loser reason to get detention. I let out a tiny scoff and heard a few people chuckle. Lily elbowed me lightly, but didn't comment.

"Ah yes – very naughty of you. Well – I suppose you'll _have_ to do detention, won't you? Katherine, you get in trouble a lot – what was your last punishment?"

I glared at him and again, he looked taken aback. "Why are you asking me Sir? Black and Potter get twice as many detentions as I do."

He nodded; still looking confused, but strode down the aisle to where James and Sirius sat near the back. I didn't look, even though I knew everyone else would be.

"Well, Sirius – what was your last detention?"

There was a pause. "Hmm…I think it was fixing and mopping up Moaning Myrtle's bog," Sirius replied to a few chuckles.

"Disgusting. And you, James?"

"Well, ah – I had to scrub out the bedpans in the Hospital Wing after that awful stomach bug went around last month," James said. "Exhilarating stuff."

"Indeed," I heard Prewett say and then after a few footsteps, I felt his gentle hand on my shoulder. "Well, Katherine? Care to contribute now?"

I shrugged, feeling cornered. "Trophy polishing a couple of weeks ago. And McGonagall and Kettleburn are having me do lines three times this week."

"And there you are Lizzy – which detention strikes your fancy? Bog fixing, bedpan scrubbing, or lines?" Prewett asked, squeezing my shoulder as he passed me and headed back into view beside a practically shaking Lizzy. She couldn't seem to look away from me and all I did was stare back evenly. Let her divert her eyes first – I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of getting to me.

"Er – I suppose lines, Professor," she muttered, still blinking back at me.

"A wise choice. Tell Professor McGonagall that you will be joining Katherine in detention tomorrow evening. I suppose – 'I will not…not do my homework,' will do."

She nodded, cast her eyes over my head once more and scurried from the room.

"Well Professor," I said as he turned back to the class. "Just so you know, you've completely ruined my life."

"Oh buck up Katherine – life isn't as hard as you make it out to be! Now – Patronuses!"

* * *

A peacock. A bloody peacock – that's what my stupid Patronus turned out to be. Six years of expecting it to be a lion or a dragon or something impressive like that – it was a peacock. As the class shook with laughter, even Professor Prewett couldn't hold back his smile.

"Well Katherine, you have to admit that it's quite appropriate – you are rather showy."

I scowled and he chuckled, patting me on the back and moved on to where a very pretty looking deer had sprung from Lily's wand. Her eyes grew large and bewildered as it sprung over to where James had shot out a similar deer – except with antlers. He didn't look surprised at the form of his patronus as Prewett clapped and said, "Ah! We have a stag _and_ a doe – how charming. Well done, Potter," he said, elbowing James. Lily scowled as hard as I had, at that.

And then Dorcas made a doe too! She blushed crimson and I noticed that Lily was looking at her oddly. Perhaps she wasn't as clueless about Dorcas' affection for James as I'd thought. Prewett cleared his throat as Dorcas' doe ran through Lily and James' patronuses and all three of the silvery forms turned to wisps.

"A popular form apparently," he muttered before clapping Sirius on the back. "And I would expect nothing different from you, Sirius." A stupidly adorable big dog had erupted from his wand and the ponce exchanged a look with Professor Prewett who, from this day forward, I will refer to as Ponce Senior. Remus was beside me now, watching as Sirius' dog chased after Peter's little rat and he patted me on the back.

"Don't worry – it was a very pretty peacock.

"What's yours?" I grumbled.

He shrugged and waved his wand, concentrating hard and a huge, four-legged thing sprung from it, scampered in between the dog and rat and then sprung for the windows dissolving as it hit the glass. The room was silent for a second, everyone probably wondering, like me, what on earth Remus' patronus had been. His face was dark and his eyes drifted to his friends who looked equally solemn.

"Ah! One of those ancient Dire Wolves! Very unusual Remus," Prewett said, patting Remus on the shoulder and everyone turned to chat together about how huge it had been.

"Careful Remus," the Professor cautioned quietly before he strode to the front of the room.

"You're a wolf?" I said, raising my eyebrow at him. "I thought for sure you'd be a kitten."

"Oh shut it Peacock," Remus said, giving me a small smile as he headed back to his desk with the same grim expression on his face.

"Now! It's easy enough to make a Patronus in the light of a happy and relaxed classroom under the watchful eye of a very handsome Professor – but ordinarily, the circumstances in which you'd need to produce a patronus would be much more difficult. And since it would be highly irresponsible for me to invite a Dementor to the castle – I will just be trying to recreate a similar effect so that you may try again. But that's for next week," Ponce Senior said as the bell rang. "Essay on the Patronus Charm please – let's all try and make sure you get more than five words on to an inch of parchment for this one please? Fifteen inches sounds like a good number. See you all soon!"

As we headed out into the corridor to go to our Free, I noticed that Lily and Dorcas were arguing in hushed voices beside me.

"Honestly Dorcas! A doe? You don't really fancy that arrogant, self-obsessed idiot do you? I thought you were better than that!" Lily snapped, fiddling with the strap on her bag.

Dorcas looked, if possible, more annoyed.

"Oh you can talk! Yours was a doe too – and I know for a fact that Archie's isn't a stag because he was gloating about it being a eagle when he ate lunch with us yesterday."

Lily reddened and spluttered a bit.

"Well – it's obvious – that er…Potter's is a stag because mine is a doe!"

I winced. Bit arrogant for someone who is constantly calling other people arrogant, Lily.

"That is! Well – that is just absurd. Maybe his is a stag because_ mine_ is a doe!" Dorcas hissed.

I held back a laugh but Lily didn't bother.

"Oh yeah, that's likely."

"Well," I interrupted as they glared at each other. They were both being very silly. Lily shouldn't have been yelling because she didn't fancy James and even if she'd been harsh, Dorcas shouldn't have been mad because Lily was probably right – if James' patronus was based on any girl, it was probably Lily.

"Where do you want to spend our Free?"

"I'm going to the dormitory!" Dorcas snapped, still scowling at Lily.

"Well, _I'm_ going to the Common Room!" she retorted and then they both stared at me as if I was supposed to choose one of them over the other. I blinked between the two of them and then someone caught my eye and I yelped, "Remus!" and rushed away. They didn't follow me and I fell into step with him as he headed off down the hallway.

"Where are you off to?"

"Library. Emmeline has Care of Magical Creatures off today because Kettleburn is still recovering from some burns off a Fire Crab and she wanted me to help her with her Charms homework."

Ah! So many feelings all at once! Kettleburn was burnt – Remus was off to see Emmeline, and oh bollocks I'd have to spend _another_ Free in the Library to avoid my friends' drama.

"Is it a date, or can I come along?"

He raised his eyebrow. "You want to come?"

"Lily and Dorcas are acting mental and I want to avoid them at all costs. I've got enough on my mind with sodding Sirius."

He looked at me for another few moments, but finally just shrugged and nodded. I sighed, wishing that I had mates who actually enjoyed doing things other than studying, but was glad to have Remus' company anyway. It didn't hurt that I could keep an eye on the whole Girl Two situation – I hoped Emmeline wouldn't think I was imposing.

She was in the Library already, at one of the tables by the window. It was more in the open than the secluded tables I usually forced my friends to sit in, but the desks were much larger and at least I'd be able to look out the window when I got bored. The sun was shining on to Emmeline's hair and it made the chestnut seem almost gold. Why did everyone have more interesting hair than me? She looked up and waved and I felt Remus nudge me.

"Look," he said as we started to walk over. "Don't overanalyze this – but can you, um, just not embarrass me?"

"Moi?" I asked in surprise and smiled at the withering look he shot me. I patted his arm.

"I promise Remus."

"Hey Kate! What are you doing here?" Emmeline asked. When Remus leaned under the table to pull his books out of his bag, she shot me a look of slightly annoyed confusion. I grimaced at her guiltily.

When Remus sat up, he rolled his eyes. "Kate is a bit of a lost puppy at the moment. Her mates are having a row and, of course, she doesn't want to be involved. Oh, and she and Sirius are fighting too."

"Correction – we're broken up," I said, throwing Emmeline another look of apology. Urgh – maybe I ought to suck it up and go and force my friends to make up. Her expression seemed to change though – her brow wrinkled.

"You and Sirius split up?"

"Yeah, for good this time," I said, pulling WME out of my bag.

Remus laughed. "You could work on the essay, you know?"

"Just pretend I'm not here. Emmeline – you needed help with your Charms right?"

Her eyebrows were still pulled together but she turned to Remus and broke into a large smile. "Yeah Remus – I heard you're a whiz at Charms."

He looked embarrassed and just shrugged. I looked down at my book to avoid staring as the two of them began to work. Emmeline was playing the coy flirt and Remus, the bashful bloke, and it was really all working out exactly according to plan.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading! Update will hopefully be up tomorrow or the day after. Also - Bottle-Specs readers - I have a bit of a surprise coming for you guys in the next couple of days, so keep an eye out ;)_


	14. Something no girl should ever think

_A/N:badaboom another update. Thank you guys for being so cool and encouraging - it just makes me want to write more and more for you like a big cheesy ball of...cheese. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Something no girl should ever think

"Lily, look – I of all people know that Dorcas is probably the least reasonable person in this castle, but don't you think you're being a teensy bit unfair here?" I asked her the next evening as we made our way up to the Common Room after dinner. Dorcas had decided to subject both of us to the silent treatment and had gone off to the Library, so I was left to deal with Lily who pretended not to be bothered by the silence, but kept up a stream of complaints all the way through the halls.

"I'm looking out for her! Potter is the last person that anyone should fancy – did you see how badly he treated Rolanda this morning?"

I picked at a loose thread on my sleeve and glanced up. "Oh, you mean when he broke up with her?"

"Yes! They were hardly together three days – you'd think he'd be a bit more sensitive."

I shrugged. "She seemed to take it well – I don't think they really fancied each other to start with. I think she was using him to make Krish Kumar jealous."

Lily huffed. "Well what about him? If he knew that, then why did he snog her in the first place?"

"They were sloshed. And you know James uses any opportunity to try to make you jealous as well," I said as we entered the Common Room and took the seats by the fire. The Marauders were nowhere to be seen, thank Merlin. Sirius had been less in my face about it, but he was still trying to get me to talk to him. It was all very bothersome and unlike him – it must have been taking every shred of his being not to explode with the effort. On the other hand, I was actually quite proud of myself – I hadn't even made a fuss of it. With the distraction of Lily and Dorcas' argument, everyone seemed to have forgotten that I was sad and alone.

"Anyway Lily – I don't see why this should worry you so much. You don't have feelings for James, do you?"

She scoffed and folded her arms – obviously deeming my question unworthy of a response. "So – when's your second detention?"

I sighed. "Fifteen minutes. My hand's cramping up from yesterday already. I can't believe they gave me three nights worth of detention over one measly bunk."

Lily shrugged. "Maybe they're setting an example – so people don't think it's okay to just skip lessons and get away with it. Probably don't want the younger kids to see you doing it and following your example."

"Yes but, I repeat, what is _le point?_"

The Portrait hole opened and in walked Dorcas, followed by Sirius. He was pushing her forward and although she was pushing back against him – he made it look easy. Dorcas was, after all, incredibly light. Eventually she came to a stop in front of Lily and I, and Sirius elbowed her. She just crossed her arms and looked at Lily evenly and Lily stared back just as unwaveringly. Even though I was trying to ignore the prat, I was still curious as to what he thought he was doing. He stared at Dorcas and then Lily and eventually gave me an exasperated look, as if I was supposed to share his feelings. I blinked back and he sighed at Dorcas.

"Look – I don't know what you two are arguing about, but you're upsetting Kate by putting her in the middle – so just sort it out."

All three of us blinked at Sirius who was looking quite pleased with himself. I suppose the last Quidditch match must have knocked a few things loose inside his head, because I was sure, under ordinary circumstances, he would know that I didn't give a toss either way. I mean, yes – I didn't like having to spend my time drifting between the two of them, because it meant that I ended up doing twice the amount of studying…but this was pushing it. Ah, Remus must have tried to give him advice.

"Kate doesn't care!" Dorcas snapped.

"Yeah – this has nothing to do with her!" Lily added.

"You see – you two are agreeing already. Why don't Kate and I leave you to it and I'll walk her to detention," Sirius said, grabbing my forearm and pulling me up.

"This is a new low, Sirius," I said rolling my eyes at my friends. They missed it however, because they were now considering each other a bit abashedly and looked like they might dissolve into reconciliatory tears any second. They weren't the sort to argue longer than a day – it was only when_ I_ was involved that they suddenly seemed able to hold a grudge.

"You're lucky," I muttered as Sirius and I left the portrait hole in sync with the bursts of 'I am _so_ sorry!' and 'No, I was a complete prat!'

"Yeah, I thought I ought to go the extra mile if I wanted you to talk to me again," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"You know, this makes no difference – their problems have nothing to do with the way I feel about you right now," I sighed and he nodded stiffly.

"Kate, I just want to make it up to you – I don't want to fight with you. I miss you," he said, grabbing my hand and linking our fingers together.

I said nothing because I thought I might burst into tears and even though I knew I ought to – I didn't unlink our fingers.

"Can't you forgive me? I haven't said a word to her since the Quidditch. Even at practice, I just look off in the opposite direction."

I pulled my hand free and glared at him. "What good is that doing anyone? And why are you acting like this? You don't usually spend more than five minutes being upset over something."

He shrugged. "Kate, I know we're going out but you're also one of my mates – I don't like not having you around."

"We are _not_ going out," I replied as we headed down the staircases and arrived in the History of Magic corridor. Thankfully, McGonagall had been busy tonight, so Binns was overseeing my detention instead. And since he frequently bored himself to tears, there was the off chance that he might fall asleep while I was writing lines and then I could faff for the rest of the time.

"Okay, but we _were_ going out," Sirius said. "And I want us to _keep_ going out."

I let out a huff of irritation as we came to a stop outside Binns' classroom.

"Why?"

He looked confused and slightly alarmed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"You see," I said, poking his arm. "There's no reason good enough for us to try to keep up this charade." I opened the door and headed inside and felt my heart drop when I saw who else was in the classroom with Binns. Oh Godric, I'd forgotten the Mumbler had detention with me tonight. She didn't look surprised, but she did look nervous, and her eyes flickered to Sirius as he followed me in. He seemed to freeze when he saw her too but snapped his head towards me immediately.

"Kate, please–"

"Ah! Miss Hopcoddle," Binns said. "Take your seat beside Miss Collinsworth. Mr Bowtruckle – what are you doing here?"

I shrugged at Sirius and headed over to the desk beside Lizzy, moving it as far away as I could without drawing too much attention to myself. Sirius stood in the doorway, his eyes still locked on me while Lizzy watched him from beside me. Finally, he sighed, shoved his hands in his pockets and left. He did look uncharacteristically sad – and I felt a dull pang of regret. I really didn't like making people miserable, even if they deserved it.

Binns had us get on with our lines immediately and soon, he was fast asleep, snoring lightly and floating about a foot above his desk. I wrote a few more lines and eventually threw my quill down and stretched. I flexed my fingers a bit – they really smarted – I ought to put in a complaint about the dangers detentions like this one could bring. I noticed that Lizzy had stopped writing too and she was twisting her hands over her parchment, scratching at her cuticles. Turning away, I pulled the Remus chart out of my bag and was interested to see that Emmeline's details had begun to fill in of their own accord. Sadly, the spell told me nothing new about their relationship, so I decided to add my own observations from my time spent in the library with them the previous day. As I was noting down the precise shade of Remus' blush, Lizzy cleared her throat.

"Er-um, K-Kate?"

I sighed and ignored her.

"Can I um, talk to you?"

I dropped my quill and turned to her coolly.

"What could you possibly have to say to me?"

She flushed and leaned away from me, but bit her lip and carried on. "I…please don't be angry."

I laughed bitterly. "Angry? Why would I be angry? Because you think it's okay to steal my boyfriend? Just because I don't blush and mumble, it doesn't mean I don't get upset. Look, I know what people say about me – that I'm a horrid witch with a b and I bet you probably think I deserve to be hurt because I never noticed you existed before this year, but just because I'm oblivious it doesn't mean I'm devoid of feelings," I hissed and she shrunk back looking miserable. I felt the usual stab of guilt. I was being so horrible to her. But I knew what she was thinking – what her friend probably told her behind my back – that I was a stupid, insensitive cow who didn't deserve a bit of sympathy just because no one in Hogwarts had ever not noticed _my_ existence.

"I don't think you're horrid," she mumbled and I shrugged. Yeah, right.

"Really! I…I don't think I know much about you at all."

I scoffed and narrowed my eyes at my desk.

"But, I don't think you know much about me either."

"And is that any reason for you to hate me?" I snapped and she shook her head, for once not blushing at my words.

"I don't! I…well, you seem to hate _me_."

"Oh, that obvious, am I?"

She let out a short laugh and covered her mouth and I couldn't help but let out a wry grin of my own.

"Kate, Sirius doesn't fancy me. We're – we're just mates."

I rolled my eyes but continued to pay attention. It was the only fair thing to do now that I'd snapped and told her my side of our saga. This was her chance to yell and have a strop with me if she really felt like it – there was no one around and I'd never let her have another chance to get to me.

"He likes _you_! You're almost all he talks about when we're chatting. How you're the funniest girl in the school, and the hottest, and how he's never met anyone who was more like him in his life."

I felt my neck grow warm. Sirius would never say that kind of thing – it sounded like a pile of bollocks – but her expression was so earnest, I couldn't help but want to believe her.

"And he tells me about the funny things you do, like how you've been trying to get Remus Lupin a girlfriend." Lizzy looked relieved now and I noticed that she hadn't stuttered in ages. She still looked shy and unsure, but bolstered by my lack of retorts or cutting remarks.

"I don't even like him like that! We're really – just mates," she said quietly and her face twisted a little. I laughed at that and shook my head.

"Try looking at yourself say that and you'll see how ridiculous it seems," I commented, lightly.

"No! I mean, okay – I _used_ to fancy him. But now – now I've got to know him, he's a bit too loud and brash and I can never completely understand what he's thinking. And…" she shrugged and I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Well, why would he look at me beside you?" she said in a small voice.

I felt a horrible rush of sadness. Here I'd been – bitching about this girl, complaining about how she'd stolen my boyfriend, and at the same time, she didn't even think she was worth a second look. It wasn't fair. Nothing about this situation was – I didn't even know what to do. All I knew in that moment was I couldn't let her go on thinking that she had nothing to offer, or that she was less than me in any way. I was worried that I'd never be enough for Sirius, but Lizzy seemed to believe that she was _nothing_. And that, is something no girl should ever think.

"Well – your big blue eyes for one," I replied casually. "Or your gorgeous, haphazard hair – your Quidditch skills, for another."

She blushed and shook her head frantically, but I went on.

"And from what it sounds like – you two actually have proper conversations. All Sirius and I do is take the mick out of each other and snog. It's not a very complex relationship."

"He hasn't spoken to me in days," she said looking at the floor.

"Yeah, well – somehow he seems to think that'll make me happy," I sighed, leaning back and rubbing my face. "I don't really know what to do here, Lizzy."

"Can't you forgive him?" she suggested.

"Dunno."

"We really are just friends. That thing that happened at the Quidditch party – he was so drunk. It was like a two second brush of lips before he pulled away."

I nodded, although this was news to me - I'd never even bothered to actually find out the details. I hadn't wanted to.

"Yeah, true"

"He'd never cheat on you. He's said that to me before."

My eyebrows jumped up my forehead – surprised that they'd had that sort of conversation – but I didn't look at her. "Yeah, me too."

"He's miserable," she practically crooned. She sounded like she felt for him so much, and I couldn't understand why - especially after he'd spent the last few days ignoring her.

"Blimey, you like him don't you?" I said, turning to watch her face predictably flush.

"No-n-I-er–"

I laughed. "I didn't mean like that. I just mean…you care that he's upset."

She still blushed but nodded shortly.

I sighed heavily. "I'm sorry about how I've treated you. I was just lashing out because I thought I'd lost him. Honest – I don't normally talk behind girls' backs. Or at least, I try not to."

"You said more than what you'd already said to my face?" she looked shocked. "Worse than 'mumbling bitch'?"

I laughed pretty hard at that and threw her a grin. "Oh yeah – I went heavily into a theory about you being part veela."

She chuckled at that and I shrugged again. "I'm going to tell Sirius to talk to you again. None of this is really about you – it's about me not trusting him."

Her face lit up, but she bit back a smile and nodded solemnly. "Thanks. You're…decent, Kate."

"That's what they call me – Decent Kate," I said, folding up a scrap piece of parchment into a paper airplane. "So, I've been toying with an idea for a game. Ten points if you get a plane to fly through Binns' chest. Twenty if you get it through his mouth."

By the time I got back to the Common Room, I was feeling remarkably zen. Lizzy wasn't all that bad. When she wasn't stuttering, she sometimes said some funny things and since she was a Chaser, she had pretty good aim – she'd gotten at least five planes to soar right through Binns' open mouth. Once we neared the Common Room, however, she began to withdraw into herself again and I didn't much blame her. Even _I _had a weird fluttering nervousness darting around in my belly. I wasn't about to let him off the hook completely, but I did think that maybe Sirius deserved to be heard. He'd put so much effort into following me around; maybe he actually had something good to say to properly explain his behaviour. Maybe he had a good enough reason for us to get back together.

I said goodbye to Lizzy at the door and she gave me a brief look of terror before scurrying off to her friendly mate, whose name I had just learned was Dilys.

When I turned to look at the sofas we usually occupied, I noticed that Dorcas and Lily were nowhere to be seen and James was thumping an embarrassed Remus on the back. Peter was watching with a grin, and only Sirius had a slightly surly look on his face. The space between his eyebrows had the tiniest crease, but quite apart from that – he seemed pretty uncaring seeing Lizzy and I chatting civilly. He looked away as I made my way over and I felt another ache in my gut. Of course – he chose to go back to being an indifferent ponce as soon as I decided to hear him out. When I got to the sofas, I perched on the sofa's armrest and the group fell quiet. James and Remus looked up at me expectantly – though traces of their smiles remained. Sirius continued to stare off into space as if I wasn't even there.

"Where are Dorcas and Lily?" I asked, fiddling with the rip in the armrest.

"Oh, they said something about girl-bonding?" James said with a laugh, ruffling his hair. "Apparently they had some argument."

I nodded and hid my smile. If James only knew the reason!

"They told us to tell you to come up," Peter said. "Also – I have some news for you."

"Oh?" I asked distractedly. Remus still had that odd smile on his face and Sirius was still staring at the wall as if it fascinated him and Peter's news didn't seem very pressing.

"Jenny has decided to completely forgive me, if you apologize to Sarah," he said proudly. I tore my eyes from Sirius and looked at him in alarm.

"She hasn't already forgiven you? Merlin, Fringy is stubborn."

Sirius let out a funny cough and Remus and James exchanged a look.

"Well!" I said loudly, even though Sirius hadn't turned to look my way. "Sometimes people are allowed to be stubborn. And okay Pete, if this is the only solution, I will suck it up and apologize to the girl. It's ridiculous though. Surely, they've seen that Remus has moved on already!"

Peter shot me a glare and I shrugged. "Yeah, yeah – I said I'd deal with it Peter, no need to give me your devil stare."

"Speaking of Remus moving on," James said elbowing a very pink Remus in the ribs. "Don't you have something you want to tell Kate? You know she's going to be over the moon."

Merlin! All these distractions – I had come in there with the full intention of talking to Sirius and somehow everyone else decided they had important things to tell me. Next, James would be saying that he'd decided to give up on Lily and was actually in love with Dorcas.

"Well Remus?" I prompted. "Don't make me beg."

He shrugged. "It's nothing. It's – you'll blow it out of proportion."

"Try me!"

James sighed in frustration. "Emmeline asked him to Sluggy's do this weekend!"

"What!" I said, jumping to my feet. "She didn't tell me! _You_ didn't tell me!"

Remus chuckled wearily. "Because we both knew that you'd make it into something it isn't. We're just going as mates."

I rolled my eyes and did a bit of a jig. "I told you my plan would work – didn't I?"

"Yeah, this was completely your doing," James laughed. "Still good though – I might go too, I reckon, if I can find a date."

I thought of Dorcas. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of offers, James."

He looked surprised. "Er- thanks Kate."

I nodded and took a deep breath. Zero hour.

"Sirius, can I have a word?"

It was like I'd just told him he was hideous or something. All four Marauders snapped their heads to look at me in shock and I chuckled anxiously. Surely, this was overreacting. I'd only been ignoring Sirius for a couple of days.

"Me?" he said stupidly.

"No, the other boy in the room that goes by the unusual name Sirius."

His mouth was still open slightly, but he nodded and we went off to the Portrait Hole and out into the corridor to talk. The Fat Lady had her friend Violet visiting her portrait, and both of them leaned forward to listen nosily.

"Well?" I asked, nodding and gesturing in front of me.

"You wanted to talk to _me_," Sirius replied dully.

Merlin, he was dim.

"You have been trying to talk to me for three days – what exactly did you have to say for yourself?" I asked calmly, folding my arms over my waist.

He scratched his head. "Um."

"Oh why didn't I hear you out before? This changes everything!"

He scowled and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I really am – I should've never let it get to that point."

I nodded. "Yeah, you've said that."

"Well Kate, what do you want me to say?" he burst out.

"It would be nice to know why you think we should get back together after all of this."

I raised my eyebrows and his jaw flexed. His brow crinkled and finally, he sighed.

"I'll never do it again. I'll never even talk to her again, promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Sirius. And that's not necessary. I think I believe that the two of you are mates – I'm not going to pretend to like it, but I've decided I can forgive your almost kiss."

His eyes widened and he took a couple of steps forward. "So…we're back on?"

I shook my head. "I need to know why. Why should we bother? What's stopping you from letting this 'almost' happen again?"

He shook his head. "It won't. Look – I don't fancy her like that. I like talking to her but that's it. She listens – it's sort of like you and Remus. There's nothing romantic between us, we're too different anyway."

I nodded. I didn't completely agree but at least it wasn't an outlandish statement.

"And you and me Kate – we make sense. If I can't make it work with you…who can I make it work with?"

I bit my lip and nodded. Oddly, quite apart from the fact that it wasn't a very romantic notion, I sort of felt the same way. "Yeah. Okay."

"You forgive me?" He held my hands, but I pulled them free instantly.

"I forgive you, but I think we should be friends for now. I want to see what happens when you're friends with me _and_ Lizzy – whether you'll still want to be with me anyway."

"So…you're testing me?"

"Problem?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Guess not."

"Don't look so glum, Sirius. If we're really supposed to be together then this won't even be an issue, right?" I said, poking him lightly in the ribs.

His grey eyes looked a little uncertain, but he nodded. "Right."

* * *

_A/N: Okay, I gather that a lot of people are thinking - seriously he barely even cheated - a little kiss? Why are Kate and Remus making such a big deal of it? Well - while I think the biggest part for Kate is the embarrassment/betrayal,also - I don't know, when I was sixteen and someone in a 'relationship' kissed/almost kissed someone else, it was always a ridiculously big deal. Maybe it's not like that anymore - maybe I'm showing my age. Yuck. Anyway - I think those of you who think that it's been blown out of proportion are right, but I also hope this lame attempt at an explanation will work for you. _

_Also for hungryhippo and anyone else wondering - Alas, no Prewett/Kate/inappropriate teacher-student relationship will be featured in this tale. Thanks for reading!_


	15. You're a good mate, Remus

_A/N: Thank you guys so much for your wonderful notes :) If you're still waiting for that Bottle-Specs surprise...sorry taking longer than expected but this week for sure! Enjoy this chapter!_

Chapter Fifteen: You're a good mate, Remus

The next day, after an early morning clothing crisis, I found myself hurrying to the Great Hall with only a few minutes left until Breakfast was over. I never made it though, because Mafalda caught me in the Entranceway. I glared over at the double doors leading to the Great Hall and breathed in the delicious scent of bacon and eggs before pouting at my sister. She didn't very seem concerned over my growling stomach.

"Are you coming to Sluggy's party with your fella?" she asked.

Wow, Prefects really didn't gossip, did they? It had been almost a full week since Sirius and I had first argued.

I shook my head. "Er, no – Sirius and I split up, didn't you hear?"

Her eyes widened and an undeniable smile slipped across her lips. She looked like Christmas had come early.

"Don't feel bad for me or anything!" I barked and she immediately switched her look to one of concern. Obviously, it wasn't particularly convincing.

"Oh I _am _sorry! Are you all right?"

"Yeah – we're just going to be mates," I shrugged.

"Well Kate, I know I haven't really said this before – but I'm really relieved. He was a terrible influence on you. Although, I'm sure he could be kind sometimes," Mafalda said, grabbing my arm and walking down the hall with me. I looked over my shoulder to the Great Hall longingly and sighed. Actually, I _had_ heard this from her about a forty-seven times, but it still annoyed the living hippogriff out of me.

"We're a terrible influence on each other, really!" I snapped. "And it's not over for good – this is just a testing period to see if we'll miss each other if we're apart."

She stopped and pulled her eyebrows together. "Whose idea was this?"

"Mine." Urgh – she was so nosy! If she didn't care for Sirius, then why did she give a toss what our plans were?

"And will you be sticking to it?" she asked, looking down her nose at me. I'm honestly not sure how she managed it – being three inches shorter than me – but that snide look was executed to perfection. How does one look down their nose when they are simultaneously looking up, you ask? Well, the answer is easy – my sister must have been born on Mars.

"Yes Mafalda! Now will you piss off? I lost my shirt this morning and spent ages looking for it – and now I'm late for breakfast!"

"Well, you're very nearly late for lessons – you'll have to skip. Maybe Lily or Dorcas will have thought to bring you something. You really ought to be more responsible – I thought you usually got up early. Hurry off to lessons, I don't want you to get another detention," she said, patting my back.

"Why aren't you at breakfast?" I grumbled.

"I eat in my Common Room sometimes to optimize my study time. Didn't I tell you that?" she said, looking surprised.

"I wouldn't have wanted to know," I sighed, moaning when a crowd of students exited the Great Hall. Brilliant – Breakfast was over and if I were lucky I'd get a scrap of toast at most, because Lily had a Free and it was only Dorcas in History with me. Urgh my sister was the worst.

I inched my way to History with hunger pains stabbing viciously at my gut. It was so absurd – I'd been up for hours, I had no excuse missing breakfast! Dorcas was in Binns' classroom already and she waved at me as I sat down and leaned over the back of my chair, holding my belly. My back cracked and my stomach let out a loud grumble.

"Dorcas, sweet friend of mine, please tell me you brought me sustenance," I begged, looking at her with wide, pleading eyes.

She grimaced. "Oh, sorry! I thought you would have nipped to the Kitchens since you were late."

AGH! The Kitchens! If I had gone that way, I wouldn't have bumped into my evil sister _and_ I'd have been able to grab something to munch on my way to class. Why was I so stupid?

"I'm sorry Kate, maybe I've got an apple in here," Dorcas said, flipping open her crammed full bag. Predictably, there didn't look like there was room in there for an extra quill, let alone an apple. I let out a little whine. I would never make it until Lunch.

And then, an angel placed a perfectly wrapped bacon sandwich on the desk in front of me. When I looked up, my vision hazy around the edges with hunger, I saw that the angel had Remus' green eyes and calming smile.

"Saw you weren't at breakfast," he said. "And I thought you might get hungry since you don't have a Free until after Lunch."

"Remus," I said, grabbing his hand. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?"

He looked alarmed and pulled away from my grip, looking at Dorcas questioningly. "Is she okay?"

"She's exaggerating about how starving she is," Dorcas said as I tucked into the delicious sandwich. Oh Godric, it tasted heavenly – I had never loved food this much before.

"Right – and is everything else all right?" Remus said, nudging my foot with his under the table.

"Mmm?"

He laughed. "Well – Sirius said that you two got back together. I just wanted to check that that's what you wanted."

"Mmm-fogreayy," I nodded.

"I thought you were just going to be friends," Dorcas said, elbowing me and accidentally making me spray the desk with bits of bacon. "Ugh! Disgusting, Kate!"

I swallowed the rest of my bite and shook my head at Remus. "Yeah, she's right. Is he saying we got back together? We agreed to be just friends for now."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, he did say that – but he said that it wouldn't last because you were just testing him."

I shrugged. "We'll see. Early days!"

He frowned, opened his mouth to say something and then shook his head, hurrying off to his desk without another word. He was an odd sort, that Remus. Lovely, though.

"Remus seems concerned," Dorcas remarked and I shrugged.

"He doesn't have to be. Sirius is well aware that he's being tested."

"No," Dorcas said. "I don't think he's concerned about _him_."

And then Binns began the lecture and because Dorcas loved every subject, including History, she stopped talking and started to diligently take notes.

Dorcas, Peter, Remus and I walked to Transfiguration together and Dorcas and Remus were arguing about the tactics that Grindelwald had utilized during his campaign on Europe, versus the methods that You-Know-Who was showing signs of undertaking. For once, Peter and I didn't drop off to sleep at their post-History conversation, because this one was actually quite interesting. I was about to say that You-Know-Who already seemed to have the leg up on Grindelwald in the fear department, because of the plain fact that we referred to him by a mysterious nickname, when I saw Sirius standing with Lizzy outside McGonagall's classroom. James was behind him talking to Lily and to everyone's general astonishment, they weren't arguing. The Fifth Years had just been dismissed and Friendly Dilys was hovering nearby as Sirius waved his arms around while he chattered to Lizzy. She was laughing and nodding and then, her eyes drifted to the left and she froze when she saw me. Sirius turned distractedly and his face shifted similarly. If we'd been characters in a book, this would have been the climax - the over-the-top confrontation scene. But I was no literary heroine, I was much more reasonable than that. Also, I suppose we'd already had that particular scene. I raised my hand to wave and Sirius broke into a smile.

"All right Kate? Missed you at Breakfast."

"Caught in a Mafalda trap," I nodded before turning my mouth up at Lizzy. "Hey Liz." I'd noticed that Dorcas and Lily always called her this and it sounded quite nice and friendly on my tongue. I tended to sound a bit condescending when I called her Lizzy, so this was a sensible change in attitude for me.

She smiled back tentatively. "Morning Kate."

And then, I patted each of their shoulders with the grace of a queen and headed into the classroom. Remus was right on my heels.

"What was that?"

I shrugged. "Three friends talking."

"Kate!"

"What?" I shrugged. "I told him he should talk to her again, what was I supposed to do – rip him a new one for doing what I asked?"

"But the look on your face – you are not okay with this," he argued.

"Oh hello Remus, you never told me you were a Legilimens," I said, sitting next to Greta with a thump. She narrowed her eyes and muttered as she moved away from me again. Honestly, the girl was going to give me a complex! I sniffed my hair, but it didn't smell bad, so I turned back to Remus who was running a hand through his own hair and looking at me oddly.

"You're going to get back with him, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "No! I mean, I don't know. Anyway, why do you look so sour about it? I thought this is what you wanted us to do."

His face twisted and he looked confused, ducking down to lower his voice when Sirius and James walked in.

"I want you to do what makes you happy. And I want him to realize what he's got."

I broke into a smile and patted his hand. "You're a good mate, Remus. I promise, I know what I'm doing."

He stared at me for a moment longer than what was comfortable, and then he sighed and walked away. I turned around to see him slap Sirius around the head and the four Marauders fell into deep conversation. Remus was so bonkers – and he worried too much. Sirius and I were perfectly capable of handling our own relationship. Suddenly, I snorted at my own hypocrisy and Greta gave a little huff and I fell silent once more.

* * *

My final detention was probably the worst because Slughorn was in charge of it and he hadn't yet forgiven me for hexing Sarah outside his classroom. It was also a Friday and I knew all my mates would be having a nice time in the Common Room – playing Snap, having a few butterbeers or firewhiskys left over from the party and listening to music. I felt awful that I wouldn't be there to educate their taste – it was going to be Warbeck and Proctor galore - vomit. Even worse, everyone was so disgustingly excited over Sluggy's party the next day that those students who were attending, couldn't stop discussing it in painfully boring detail. Lily had already run Dorcas and I through her options for jewelry and which eyeshadow to wear with her turquoise robes so many times, she'd only stopped when I fell off my chair pretending to fall asleep in the middle of her sentence.

"I did ask your father if he might be able to attend, but it seems your mother has taken ill, poor dear," Slughorn was saying as he strode in front of me at the head of the classroom. "At least darling Mafalda will be able to represent your family – there's no one else really," he continued and I rolled my eyes.

My mother was ill, my foot! And wasn't it nice of him to forget I existed completely? 'No one else,' my arse.

But I hadn't really expected Horace to invite me anyway; I was only good enough to attend as a guest of one of his treasured Slug Club members – not nearly important enough to receive a summons of my own. Thank Merlin.

"Professor Prewett was telling me that your Patronus is a peacock, Katherine – quite a powerful one at that – if only you'd live up to your potential, you might be as good as your sister or father one day," he continued.

"Yes Sir," I sighed, scratching at my parchment with my quill. I had accidentally diverted from the line 'I will not laugh at my Professor's inability to walk' and wrote 'I will not accidentally set my Professor's mustache on fire,' when the door opened and in walked Sirius. He shot me a grin and I replied with a tired one of my own. Had he come to gloat over the fact that I was being subjected to Slughorn's nonsense? I could almost smell the firewhisky on him from my seat.

"Sirius, my dear boy! I haven't seen you all year!" Slughorn said puffing up to the size of a whale as Sirius entered and he threw an arm around him. Sirius nodded impassively.

"Sorry Sir."

"I was telling Katherine that just because you dropped Potions – it gives you no excuse not to attend my party tomorrow night. I have noticed your attendance has dropped at my little dinners this year – no doubt Miss Hopkirk has been distracting you." Slughorn shot me a withering look and it took all of my willpower not to stick my tongue out at him.

"Not at all, Sir," Sirius said, shaking his head. "I've just been busy. In fact, Kate suggested I clear my timetable this weekend specifically to attend your party!"

I bit back a laugh and his eyes shone at me, throwing me a little wink when Slughorn stared at me in surprise. He turned back to Sirius looking thrilled.

"Oho! That's wonderful news – you know we're having quite a delightful band playing. They haven't quite hit the airwaves yet, but I hear from Artemis Proctor that they are quite good. Unfortunately Artemis himself had another engagement, but he says these Ghouls are perfectly adequate – apparently they are his group's opening act on tour these days."

My mouth hung open and my heart started to pound. The Ghouls were playing at Slughorn's do? Bloody hell why wasn't I more impressive? Why didn't Slughorn fawn over me the way he did with Lily or Mafalda? Oh Merlin, now my only chance to go would be with Sirius and we were trying that pesky friendship thing. Shit shitting SHIT.

Sirius' eyebrows were raised and a slow smirk spread across his face as he looked at me. Don't bloody do this to me Sirius – don't make me beg, I said with my eyes. He bit back a laugh and turned to Slughorn who was still raving on about the party like he hadn't noticed he'd just changed my life.

"Why don't you bring along that charming new Chaser on your team? Miss Cole, I believe – I've seen you two chatting. Good friends are you?"

NO! Noooooooooo.

Sirius shrugged and fiddled with his tie. "Actually sir, I came down here because I wanted to ask Kate."

Phew. I beamed at him and the corner of his mouth turned up at me. Merlin, I didn't care what I'd said the previous day. Right then, all I wanted to do was snog his face off.

Slughorn looked a bit putout as he stared between Sirius and I, now looking like we might run across the room to each other in romantic slow motion. Then he let out a laugh right from his belly and slapped Sirius on the back.

"Ah, who am I to get in the way of young love? Katherine, I think that's enough for today – why don't you go with Sirius? I shall see you two tomorrow night!" he exclaimed, once again grabbing Sirius' arm in glee. Sirius' smile wavered at the gesture, but he nodded.

"Thank you Sir!" I said, hurriedly shoving my things in my bag and rushing to the front so I could leave the room with Sirius.

The air was thick with tension as we walked down the corridor and headed up the dungeon staircases to the main level of the castle. And then he stopped and shrugged at me.

"So, will you go to this thing with me?"

I stared at him, wetting my lips and he ran a hand through his hair.

"It'll be a laugh. And look, I know we're doing the mates thing – so I thought it would be okay to tell you…" He hesitated and I waited, staring into his gorgeous eyes, feeling breathless. "I actually don't hate The Ghouls. That new one about avada-ing his heart isn't bad."

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him for all I was worth and he laughed against my lips before he pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. When we separated, my eyes were hooded and he was breathing hard. I covered my mouth and stared at him before he burst into laughter.

"Was that all it took? Me admitting that The Ghouls aren't total crap?" he smirked.

I smacked his arm, beaming, before I straightened my face. "We're going as friends."

"Oh yeah, of course," he grinned and I couldn't fight off my own smile.

"We'll see how it goes," I said, fanning my hot face and nodding towards the stairs. We made our way to the Common Room and as I tried to cool my face to a normal temperature, Sirius had started whistling.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to find out what'll happen," he said, still with that offensively gorgeous smile on his face.

He held my hand when we walked into the Common Room and because I was in such a good mood, I saw no reason to pull away. Our mates were all sitting on the sofas listening to some Roaring Horntails – thank Godric I could count on Remus to take care of their musical education in my stead. Only Peter was missing, sitting by the windows with Jenny. Oh good – they looked cosy. Jenny's fringe had gotten worryingly long though – I couldn't understand how she could even see through it, but Peter was simpering at her anyway so Sirius and I looked away and joined the rest of our friends on the sofa. Sirius threw his arm around my shoulders and I curled one knee to my chest, nodding along to the last verse of 'Fly, dragon, fly' before Remus turned off the wireless and looked at us.

"So, you two are back on then?" His voice was dull and resigned and I wanted to make him a cuppa and tell him to calm the hell down. Why couldn't he stop worrying?

"Nah," Sirius shrugged with a smirk that said otherwise. "Just mates."

"Remus! I have the best news in the world," I said happily, throwing Sirius' arm off my shoulders and leaning forward. Remus looked back evenly, but I knew he'd be grinning any moment.

"Guess who's playing at Slughorn's party tomorrow?"

He made a face. "Oh no – it's not Proctor is it? I heard he was part of the Slug Club."

"Hey! You make it sound like an awful thing," Lily protested and Remus and I rolled our eyes at each other.

"No – Proctor is busy so he sent his opening act to play the party instead!"

Remus' expression changed slowly and then his mouth fell open. "Are you telling me that The Ghouls are going to be there tomorrow?"

I nodded vigorously and he broke into a giant grin, falling back against his armchair looking so thrilled, I wished I were closer so we could've done a bit of a jig together. I settled for nudging his leg with my foot and he tilted his head up to beam excitedly at me.

"Wow, Slughorn is really pulling out all the stops, isn't it?" Dorcas said. "I heard Lorcan McLaird is even bringing his Deputy Minister, Millicent Bagnold – she's my idol."

Lily squeezed her hand sympathetically and I frowned.

"You know Dorcas, I never thought about it but why exactly are you not a part of the Slug Club?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I would've thought you'd be one of Sluggy's crown jewels."

James laughed at that and he and Sirius exchanged a perverted look.

Dorcas sighed and oddly, glared at me. "Well, when I was a young girl – only eleven years old – I was much more impressionable than I am now."

Lily frowned. "What?"

"Well, you were off with Snape, so it was only ever Kate and I together that first week. And she convinced me it would be really funny to blow up our cauldron on our first day of Potions. Slughorn didn't think it was as amusing though!"

Our group burst into laughter and I grinned at the memory.

"Merlin! Now I know why you're so angry at me all the time, Dor! You've been burying that one deep, haven't you?"

She sighed and leaned against the sofa looking glum when suddenly James spoke up.

"Hey! I've just realized – it's just going to be me and you not going, Dorcas!"

Her eyes widened a little and darted to Lily and I.

"Oh and what's Peter then?" Remus chuckled.

James laughed. "He'll have Fringy. Dor – you and I should go together. Sirius and Kate are going as mates and so are Remus and Emmeline – why don't we?"

Lily was staring at her Snap cards a little too intently when Dorcas glanced at her, but then upon an encouraging nod from me, she broke into a huge grin.

"That sounds lovely James – thanks."

"No problem – although you'll have to forgive me if I don't dance to The Ghouls," he said elbowing Sirius who chuckled along and shot me a warning look. I smiled back and leaned against him so his arm fell back over my shoulders. I truly couldn't wait for this party.

* * *

_A/N: Kate and Sirius - how ridiculous. Party next chapter - I know it took forever, but it'll be fun. And then the following chapter is my favourite so far (although it could be because I just finished writing it). Thanks for reading!_


	16. Arsonist Fringe

_A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting - I had a nightmare week at work and was too exhausted to edit whenever I got home. Thank you so much for your lovely reviews. For those who have been asking, I think this story will have around 50 chapters but I'm not sure yet. Kate and the other characters still have a lot of growing up to do before I feel as though it can be wrapped up. It's mid-November in the story and I don't think Remus and Kate will get to together until at least April. Anyway - I hope you enjoy this one!_

* * *

Chapter 16: Arsonist Fringe

I _would_ get a spot on the day of the party. It was red and rather large and lurked on my forehead just under full blossom and it throbbed painfully. And it was disgusting. Trust a bloody spot to ruin my life on the day I met Arson Fring – the hottest, most talented, amazing lead singer to ever exist. I had spent all day poking on the stupid thing and now it had gone from slightly red, to horrible and unsightly, and there was only two hours before the party. I'd sat in the shower steaming it for as long as I possibly could, but had no luck. My roommates didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation because Dorcas had just danced her way to the shower and Lily was laying her clothes out on the bed, humming to herself. I felt even sicker when I recognized the chorus of Warbeck's latest pile of poo.

"Do you reckon the gold necklace will look better with my turquoise robes, or would the onyx pendant you gave me last Christmas be better?" Lily asked, coming up behind me and holding both necklaces up to her neck.

"Go with onyx – gold is a bit showy," I said probably for the thousandth time, peering close to the mirror and sighing as I gently felt the tender area around the blemish.

"Did you get dress robes then?"

"Well, I borrowed some from Mafalda," I replied, prodding the spot and wincing as my whole forehead throbbed with pain.

"Stop playing with it!" Lily said, pulling my hand away. "You'll only make it worse."

I groaned and thumped my head down on the table, flinching when the pimple connected with the hard wood. Dorcas' tub of face powder burst open beside my head and I felt flecks of it settle in my wet hair. Urgh, this was a disaster.

"Aren't Mafalda and you quite different sizes?" Lily asked as she started using a drying charm on her own wet waves. Her hair fell effortlessly into loose spirals around her face and when I sat up I bit my lip with slight jealousy, staring at my own powdery hair. I should've started drying it right away so that it had some volume, but I had more pressing cosmetic problems to worry about. Also – I'd spent a bloody age trying to tailor Mafalda's robes to fit my body. I rued the day that I laughed in my mother's face when she offered to pack some dress robes in my trunk just in case I changed my mind and actually wanted to go to one of Sluggy's awful parties as Sirius' guest. "When I find Peter Pettigrew attractive, Mum - that's when I'll go to one of those things. And it will also be safe at that point to commit me to St Mungo's," I'd said.

"Yeah, I had to do a couple of spells to take out the bust, but they're still a little shorter than I'd like. I thought you could help me, but…" I said to Lily

"Of course I can help! Get them on and we'll see how bad they are," Lily replied.

I shook my head sadly. Everyone would be so disappointed by my absence – but it was hopeless trying to convince me otherwise, they'd just have to soldier on.

"But Lily, I'm not going at all."

She laughed dismissively. "Stop being dramatic – you can barely see the spot."

I gave her a look. "Then _why_, exactly, did you know my reason for not going?"

"It's okay Kate – you can use some makeup," she said, patting my back and throwing her gorgeous hair over her shoulders, smiling at her reflection. She looked as bright as the sun; evil hair goddess that she was.

"Makeup? So it'll look all caked over and disgusting? No thank you," I said, frowning again at the mirror. She sighed resignedly and headed over to her bed to use the mirror over her chest of drawers.

And then, it came to me in a stroke of inspiration; I picked up my wand and pulled a few strands of hair from the front and held them away from my head.

"Dif–"

"Kate! What are you doing?" Dorcas came rushing from the bathroom and interrupted me, just as I was about to use the severing spell on my hair.

"Cutting myself a fringe!" I answered, struggling to pull my arm free. "To cover up this pus-filled infant on my head."

Dorcas laughed and I grimaced at her cruelty.

"You can't pull off a fringe, Kate. Your forehead is too small – you'll look like Jenny Higgins!"

Godric! She was right – I _would_ look like Fringy, and _not _Lizzy whose haircut really suited her. This castle was simply not big enough for three fringes.

"What am I going to do?" I asked in despair. "Arson Fring might fall in love with me tonight when he sees me from across the room, but then he'll see that I have a third eye and all will be lost."

My friends laughed unkindly at my plight and I draped myself over my chair in agony. It was all remarkably unjust timing.

Dorcas patted my back and reached over my head for a container on our dressing table.

"Hey! Did you spill my powder?"

"I'm sorry. I'll buy you a new tub," I groaned into the table sadly.

I heard her sigh and then groped for another bottle way at the back and when I lifted my head, she thrust it into my hand with a 'Stop being a drama queen' look.

_Gladrags Spot Removal Potion – gone in 5 seconds. _

I stared at it in awe – I had never seen this particular potion in our dormitory before. No wonder Dorcas always had perfect skin – she cheated!

"Dorcas, you've been holding out on me," I said, dabbing some of the potion on my spot and watching with delight as it shrunk and disappeared. "Thank you! You are the queen of my heart! I will never call you a swot again!"

She rolled her eyes. "I only use it for emergencies because it's awfully expensive. I'm glad I could help though – I couldn't bear it if you spent all night sulking and ruined the party for the rest of us."

She smiled and went off to her cupboard, pulling out a beautiful set of ivory dress robes that would probably make her look like an angel paired with her cloud of pale blonde hair. I shot another look in the mirror and shook my head to discard the flecks of powder – I'd have to run it under the water again, but all was no longer lost because Dorcas had come to the rescue and Lily would help with my robes and I would be the belle of the ball! _Arson Fring better like bloody brunettes, I swear._

"When did you have time to get those? They're lovely," I said, going over to examine Dorcas' robes with Lily. They were made of a gorgeous gossamer silk material that put my borrowed robes' nylon to shame.

"Oh, I brought them along in case. I was hoping Slughorn might invite me to his parties one of these days. I hope they don't wash me out - the colour's a bit paler than I remember."

"Well, I'm sure Potter won't be able to take his eyes off you," Lily nodded and then gave a strange little bow as she gazed at Dorcas' hair and gave her own waves a tug.

Thankfully, my snort of laughter was covered up when the door opened. Emmeline entered the room with a towel draped over one arm, a garment bag over the other, and a large makeup case dangling around her neck.

"Er, do you guys mind if I use your loo?" she asked, stepping inside. "Ours is occupied."

"Of course!" Lily said, gesturing her in. "Are all the Fifth Years invited?"

Emmeline shook her head. "No, just Rolanda and Lizzy – Sluggy gave them an invite at the last minute because of the Quidditch last week. Neither have dates though," she laughed, a little vindictively. Her face changed when she saw our expressions and she shook her head.

"Sorry, I'm a little annoyed because everyone wants to give Lizzy a makeover and the room is bonkers right now."

I nodded and went over to my cupboard to pull out Mafalda's ghastly spare dress robes as Dorcas and Lily continued to listen to Emmeline's chattering.

She was laughing again. "I feel a bit bad for her – Rolanda's wicked rich so she express ordered robes from Gladrags, but Lizzy's had to borrow her mate's." She doubled over and Lily and Dorcas exchanged a look.

"You know her mate, Dilys, right? She's a bit, well, curvy and oh, it's a disaster! I tried to help but I had to get out of there before I busted a gut holding back laughter."

"That's not very nice Emmeline," Lily frowned. "Not everyone had dress robes handy."

"Oh I know," Emmeline said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, if you were laughing at her – just wait until you see this disaster," I said, holding up Mafalda's robes.

The charm I'd done to take out the bust seemed to have retracted and for the first time, I noticed a thin rip going up the side of the dress that, if it were to be increased, would become an alarmingly long slit that I'd probably have to charge people to see. It was _quite_ inappropriate.

"Agh! Look at this! I can't go," I whined, throwing it on to my bed in disgust.

"Oh no, what happened?" Emmeline exclaimed as the three girls moved closer to examine the monstrosity.

"Mafalda's hand-me-downs," I sighed. "Lily, please – say you can save it."

She was tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Um, well get them on and we'll see what we can do."

"I'm just going to wash and then I can try to help," Emmeline said, heading into the loos.

Lily made a face as soon as the door closed. "She doesn't seem to like Liz – why was she slagging her off so much? It was well rude."

I nodded. "Yeah, not sure what that's about, but we're not all perfect."

"Yeah – I know she _is_ nice most of the time, but she's a bit gossipy isn't she?" Lily sighed, glancing at the door as the shower creaked on.

I shrugged, prodding at the slit on my dress and yelping as I made it worse. Lily hadn't noticed, she was still watching the bathroom door thoughtfully.

"She's probably just a bit wound up about her date with Remus. And I don't think she and Lizzy get on very well after she replaced her on the Quidditch team. I don't know the whole story," I said quietly.

Lily grimaced. "You know, I don't think she's quite right for Remus."

"What? How d'you mean?"

Lily shrugged. "I mean I get why he likes her – she is a lot like you and Remus adores you. But she's not quite as nice as you. A bit harsher with her words."

I groaned. "Lily! She's just a hormonally charged teenager – we all have a bit of a slag-off behind people's backs. It's what stops us from being really rude to people's faces."

She shook her head. "You're not like that though. If don't like someone – you just let them know. The first time I ever heard you say something really horrible about a girl behind their back, was when you were angry at Lizzy last weekend."

"Well," I shrugged. "You've clearly never been inside my head before."

She laughed and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess she's still growing up."

"And what are we? A couple of wise old ladies?" I said, elbowing Lily. "You realize that we've spent the last five minutes talking behind _Emmeline's_ back, don't you?"

She blushed and ran a hand through her hair. "Oh, I am awful, aren't I?"

I patted her back. "Not to worry Lil – that's what you have me for: to guide you gently into the light. Come away from the dark side, my dear friend, and all shall be well!"

"Not if you're wearing those rags though," Lily said picking up the dress robes. "Go on, put them on so I can see how I can help."

Even though Lily was very good at Charms, the robes still weren't wonderful. But she'd done her best with them and I looked quite presentable – especially since by a stroke of luck my hair had turned out quite nice and bouncy. It must have been the addition of Dorcas' face powder somehow. The bust on my robes was still a little too tight – but that could slide because honestly, Arson Fring and Sirius, the two blokes I would have liked to impress, would probably appreciate that – but the tear was the biggest problem. In the end, the sewing was just too messy so Lily had covered the long line down the robes in these bizarre fabric roses that Emmeline had intended on putting in her hair. We managed to change the colour to be purple enough to match the rest of the material and Emmeline stuck the last one amongst her side-swept pin curls and turned it white, so anyone who didn't look too closely wouldn't notice. Emmeline and I had just decided to not stand next to each other for too long.

Lily had gone off ahead to meet Archie in the Entranceway and Dorcas was so excited about seeing James that she was already down in the Common Room chatting with him, so Em and I came down last – just as Rolanda and Lizzy reached the bottom of the stairs.

I winced. Lizzy clearly didn't have the help of a Charms whiz like Lily, and her too large robes were bunched a little at her side. Otherwise though, she looked really nice and I didn't miss the double take Sirius threw her as she and Rolanda linked arms and headed out of the Portrait hole with just a wave at the Marauders.

Emmeline chuckled. "Yeah, those robes fit her like a glove, don't they?" she said sarcastically when we stepped out to the top of the stairs.

I rolled my eyes. "Quit slagging her off – it only makes you sound like a jealous prat."

Emmeline looked at me in shock. "I was just joking," she muttered with her cheeks glowing. "Besides, I thought you didn't like her either."

I shrugged. "Doesn't mean it's okay to go on about her behind her back. Just give it a rest, okay?"

Emmeline bit her lip but nodded looking a little ashamed. I was really a very giving person – departing wisdom upon the young 'uns. She gave me a small smile and headed down the stairs to where Sirius and Remus were waiting next to an amused James and giggling Dorcas.

Sirius broke into a grin when he saw me, waggling his eyebrows up and down. I fanned my face in response, pretending I hadn't noticed his Lizzy double-take and headed down to him, excited to get off to the party. His pale grey dress robes – the same ones I'd always seen him wear – made his eyes sparkle even more than usual, and his hair was pushed slightly off his face – ugh, why was I insisting on this friends thing again?

"Wowza Kate," he said, taking my hand as I stepped down from the last stair. He glanced at Emmeline and Dorcas, and smiled. "Sorry – you girls too."

Dorcas rolled her eyes and Emmeline laughed. I looked at Remus to perhaps suggest telepathically that he compliment his date, but he glanced away as soon as I met his eyes. He looked a bit dizzy – probably ill again. He _had _said he was expecting a cold.

"You look beautiful, Emmeline," he finally said, his hands twisting at his sides. I'd never seen him look so neat actually. His robes looked borrowed – probably from James – but they fit him well, and the high collar paired with the strands of grey hair by his temples made him look much older: quite dishy even.

"You look very dashing too, Remus," Emmeline said, slipping her arm through his and stopping him from fidgeting uncomfortably with his robes. I turned back to Sirius and saw that predictably, his eyes had zeroed in on the too-tight material over my chest.

"Oi mate," I said, shoving him. "My eyes are up here."

He laughed. "Sorry pal – I was just looking at those flowers on your dress. Cool."

"Yeah, I lent those to her to cover up this little rip," Emmeline put in, tapping the flower on her head. "Have you noticed I've got one in my hair too?" she added, smiling at Remus and then James and Sirius.

Oh hello there Emmeline. Whatever happened to our plan to not make our matching flowers obvious?

James shrugged. "You can't tell. Should we go then? I feel a prat just standing here with all these people staring at us." He threw a casual arm around a blushing Dorcas and headed to the Portrait hole with a nervous Remus and a chattering Emmeline behind them.

"You do look hot, you know?" Sirius said, linking his fingers with mine.

"None of that," I replied as we followed our friends. "Strictly mates, remember? You are on a yellow card, my friend."

He quirked an eyebrow. "A what?"

I shrugged. "I don't know – I heard Lily's dad say it once. I think it means a warning or something in that mad muggle sport."

He nodded. "Oh…all right then. So I'm guessing your tits are out for Arsonist Fringe?"

I slapped his arm. "Arson Fring! And my tits are only out because I had to borrow these robes from my sister who is about three cup sizes smaller than me."

Sirius bit back a smile. "Ah yes – well, I don't have any drool on my face, do I?"

I peered at him thoughtfully. "Just a bit of slobber – nothing too disgusting."

We laughed and I elbowed him playfully. "Look at us! And they said we'd never be able to pull off this mate thing!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, cause that's the thing I want to pull off right now."

"Sirius!"

"Stop leaving me all these naughty openings then!" he chuckled; rubbing his arm where I'd smacked him once more.

The others had already dispersed among the crowd in Slughorn's magically larger office when Sirius and I stepped through the door into the party. Slughorn was there, greeting the arrivals and he threw an arm around Sirius.

"Don't you two look a treat? Katherine, you haven't seen Mafalda have you? And Sirius – Regulus is right there – why don't we get a nice family photo? The Blacks and the Hopkirks – might be nice for the events section in The Prophet, wouldn't you agree?" he said pompously, nodding to a bored looking Photographer standing poised with his camera.

Sirius and I met eyes and we both spoke at once.

"Sorry Sir, I've suddenly got a heavy bout of stomach pain – I must get to the loo," I said.

"And I think I've just seen James knock over the champagne tower – I better help him fix it," Sirius added and we both dashed past a bewildered Slughorn and met up on the other side of the room beside the perfectly intact champagne tower. James handed us glasses off the top and clinked his with Dorcas.

"So where are Evans and Dodo?" he asked, thrusting his hands in his pockets.

Dorcas' face fell and I prodded James in the ribs.

"Why don't you ask your lovely date to dance, James? You know - to avoid looking like a total arse," I said and Dorcas' mouth twitched. James looked instantly abashed and winced at Dorcas.

"Sorry Dor – do you want to?"

"Sure," she said casually. "I think I see Lil and Archie over there."

I rolled my eyes as they headed off and Sirius sighed.

"Prongs is a clueless prat."

"And Dorcas is a hopeless fool – good pair, don't you think?"

"Emmeline and Remus look cosy though," he said nodding at Emmeline who was waving over Remus' shoulder. "He's still annoyed at me, you know?"

"Is he?" I asked, watching with a smile as Remus twirled her.

"Yeah – says I'm not giving you the space you asked for," he laughed. "But what he doesn't realize is that we're really the best of mates – what looks like sexual tension is obviously just the pair of us reacting to the itchiness of our dress robes."

"How true!" I said. "Urgh, I can't believe they're playing Jane Wolff right now – where are The Ghouls?"

"Did you really just come to this party for them, or did I have anything to do with it?" Sirius said, scoffing.

"Oh don't be so salty Sirius – I quite enjoy your company. It's preferable to being stuck back in the Common Room with Peter and Fringy."

"Be still my beating heart," he grinned. "Well, what d'you reckon? Dance like those tossers or get wrecked?"

I gave him a look and he laughed. We both downed our glasses of champagne and he pulled a flask of firewhisky from his robes and filled them up again. I winced when I'd finished that one and coughed as he poured me another. When we'd finished our second glass of firewhisky, I grabbed his arm.

"Ready to dance like a tosser, Sir!" I said and he wrapped his arms around me. It felt so nice not to worry about where his eyes were darting. It was such a relief to laugh with him like a mate and flirt harmlessly without being horribly on edge. Sirius and I were really the perfect mates if we didn't keep letting our urge to snog get in the way. Even as I thought the words though, he pulled me into his chest and I sighed happily. My stomach jumped a little as I felt him wrapping a strand of my hair around his finger – thank Merlin I hadn't gone through with the fringe. He moved away from me, tucking the hair behind my ears and I stared into his eyes trying to ignore the flutters. The problem was – we really couldn't stop the urge to snog. As I closed my eyes, I suddenly felt another hand close around my arm and my eyes flew open. Remus was there, his face looking excited.

"Fring," he spluttered. "He just walked in."

I gasped and turned around to grab Remus' shoulders and started bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"Oh my Godric. How do I look?"

Remus' eyes darted to the side and I yelped, suddenly remembering Sirius. He looked amused and gave me a shrug.

"Enjoy, I'm going to spike the punch," he smiled and clapped Remus on the back. "Make sure she doesn't fall out of that dress in front of Fring – she'll want him to remember her as more than a pair of tits."

Remus and I laughed and I pecked Sirius on the cheek. "See you later?"

"I'll be the one in grey, " he said, loping off towards the punch bowl where James was chatting to Lily and Archie. I was shocked to see that James was joking amiably with the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, but then felt Remus' tug on my arm and hurried after him towards the stage where The Ghouls were setting up. I couldn't see Fring anywhere, but I straightened my hair anyway, beaming at the toothless and hairy drummer as he twirled his drumstick. Remus had his hands in his pockets but his eyes looked equally excited as mine as we watched the band set up their equipment. Shockingly, we were the only two who'd left the dance floor, but that was better for us, and their severe loss. I wondered whether the band would open with 'You avada-ed my heart' or go with the more old school, 'Flying like your Silver Arrow'.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me and I elbowed Remus.

"Did you ditch Emmeline?"

He shook his head. "Nah, she went off to the loos with Rolanda twenty minutes ago. I don't think I'm showing her a very good time."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What did you do?"

He shrugged.

"Remus!"

"Nothing. She just seemed bored," he said lightly before poking my ribs. "There he is."

I was sufficiently distracted because the reincarnation of Merlin – if he'd been hot and had the voice of an anguished angel – emerged from a side door and hopped onto the stage. Arson Fring had dark, shaggy hair and wore a muggle-inspired red suit with a ruffled collared, white shirt, but his eyes were what drew me in. Black as coal but more intense than any eyes I'd ever seen, they scanned the room before they rested on Remus and I. He gave us a little incline of his head and I dug my fingernails into Remus' arm. He didn't flinch; just grabbed my hand and we stared up at The Ghouls in awe.

"All right Hogwarts – let's fade away," Arson said in his soft and dreamy voice. And then…

UGH. The Ghouls were covering Celestina bleeding Warbeck. Remus and I watched in shock and despair as Arson's hypnotic voice slayed through the first bars of 'A cauldron full of hot strong puke (love)' and turned to each other in disgust.

"What are they playing at?" he hissed as the rest of the party cheered and started dancing excitedly.

I shook my head. "It must have been Slughorn's idea – get them to play the popular stuff like they're some bloody wedding cover band! How dare he?"

Remus glared at where Slughorn was patting his belly and chatting to the new Minister, Lorcan McLaird. Dorcas was nearby with a group of other swots – including my sister – chatting to the Deputy Minister, a rather formidable looking woman named Millicent Bagnold.

"We've got to call out requests," Remus said. "So they know they've got fans."

I nodded fervently. "Amortentia?"

"Or Silver Arrow," Remus replied.

When the Warbeck cover came to a stop, I saw Arson Fring scowl and look over his shoulder to mutter something to his equally unimpressed bandmates.

"Silver Arrow!" Remus called.

"You still love him even though he gave you Amortentia!" I yelled, cupping my hands around my mouth. The band froze and Arson's head snapped forward to look down at us in surprise. I gave him a hopefully sexy grin and his mouth curved into a small smile of its own. He nodded and turned back to his band, before grabbing the mic and saying in his low voice, "Okay – and now let's educate your musical taste."

And then they started playing Amortentia and Remus and I danced along, singing back the words. The look on every member of The Ghouls' faces seemed like they'd never expected to find two of their biggest fans at a Hogwarts gig.

About an hour later, The Ghouls strummed the last chords of 'You avada-ed my heart,' and I squeezed Remus around the middle with a contented sigh. He ruffled my hair and waved up to Arson, who now squatted on the stage in front of us so that he was at eye-level. Someone had turned on the wireless while The Ghouls packed up their gear, but I didn't even care that Proctor was now beating through the room – I was so close to my idol, I could see the stubble on his chin.

"All right?" he said with a smile.

"You were brilliant, mate," Remus replied and Arson nodded.

"Thanks – seems like you two are the only ones who thought so. Your Professor doesn't look pleased with the lack of dancing."

"Our Professor wouldn't know good music if it snogged him," I said, rolling my eyes.

He smiled. "Good to know not all of Hogwarts is lame like I remembered."

"Oh no, everyone here is lame. Remus and I are the exception."

"And who are you?"

"Kate Hopkirk," I said coolly as I screamed and shrieked on the inside.

His mouth twisted up again. "Well, Kate Hopkirk, thanks for the support."

"Oh no problem," I replied dismissively, even though I was dying with glee. "It's really part of my general public service – I'm always telling musical icons how wonderful they are. They really look to me when they're having a bit of self doubt."

He let out a surprised laugh and it was a soothing, musical rumble. I might have squeaked in response, but thankfully it was quiet enough to go unnoticed. He glanced at Remus. "You've got a keeper here, mate."

"No!" I shouted in distress and Remus dropped his arm off my shoulder. He gave me a look as if to say, 'Oh dear Merlin Kate – stop being so uncool' and then chuckled with Arson.

"We're not together."

"Not at all," I nodded eagerly.

Arson gave me another one of his barely-there smiles and his eyes drifted down to my dress. When he looked up, he gave me a little wink. "Okay then Katie, I'll remember your face the next time I'm feeling insecure. Thanks again, both of you."

And then he shook Remus' hand and turned to help his bandmate carry his drums off stage.

"Remus?" I said as he steered me away. "Can you pinch me? I might be dreaming."

"He called you Katie," Remus laughed.

"Isn't it a lovely nickname?" I sighed as Remus let go of me.

"There's Emmeline – go and get yourself a drink. You look all moony-eyed and ridiculous."

I waved goodbye dreamily and sauntered off towards the punch bowl. Sirius was standing in front of it talking to a girl in a blue dress and even when I recognized her as Lizzy, the smile didn't leave my face.

"And are you all right with that? He was really rude to you," she was saying.

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, well Regulus never has anything nice to say anymore."

"You worry about him."

"Yeah, but he'll be all right – he's not dumb enough to really join them. He just likes hanging off the arms of more powerful evil pricks like Mulciber."

She nodded but looked unconvinced by his casual tone. "You put up a good front."

He laughed and shook his head. "What about you? You all right? You looked a bit lost over here."

"Oh yeah – I've never been to one of these things before. I wasn't sure what to do. Parties are a bit overwhelming for me…attention and stuff."

"You're doing fine," he smiled. "And you look nice."

She blushed and I felt myself sink a little under my joy.

"Oh, have the band finished? I didn't like them much – a bit depressing aren't they?" she said and as I rolled my eyes, Sirius chuckled.

"Yeah they are – Kate likes them though."

"How's it going with her?"

"Yeah, not bad. Although she seems more focused on other lads tonight. Guess I can't really blame her," he said as his eyes swept the room. They were duller than I was used to seeing them – his face looked exhausted.

"Where is she?" Lizzy asked as she patted his back comfortingly.

Yeah, that was about as much as I could handle of that nonsense.

"Right here!" I said, from behind them and they both jumped. Lizzy reddened but Sirius smiled even though the tiredness was still etched under the quick cover up.

"Have a good time?"

"He _spoke_ to me!" I said, ignoring Lizzy.

"Yeah I saw that – surly prat couldn't keep his eyes off you," Sirius said and Lizzy and I laughed in uncomfortable unison.

I was feeling a little odd. On one hand, I was still on a high from my conversation with Arson – but on the other, hearing Lizzy and Sirius discuss things like his brother and me and her shyness made me suddenly feel ill. How could I have actually thought Sirius and I could be mates? We never had conversations like that – all we were good for was snogging and laughing. The Marauders and obviously Lizzy, were the people he actually connected with – I was just good for managing his hormones. The thought made me feel sick. And even though everything in me was screaming that I was being a jealous idiot, I couldn't quite help saying my next words.

"Well – d'you want to snog?"

Sirius laughed in surprise and I saw Lizzy redden again – I still hadn't looked at her. I couldn't.

"Will you be picturing his face?" Sirius said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"The only face I'll be seeing is yours," I replied bluntly and his eyebrows shot up again.

"Well, you know I can't say no to that," he said, moving forward and wrapping an arm around my waist. "See you later Liz."

"Have fun," she smiled before her eyes shot to me.

"Thanks," I replied, threading my fingers through the hair at the back of Sirius' head. She nodded and then walked away rather quickly, stumbling over her feet on the way.

Sirius turned back to me with a grin. "So, are you just using me or are we back on?"

"Yeah, I think you can come off the yellow card now," I smiled back.

"Thank Merlin," he muttered as he pulled me against his lips.

* * *

_A/N: So yes, Sirius and Kate are quite idiotically back together - but don't worry there is a LOT of Remus/Kate interaction in the next chapter._ Thanks for reading!


	17. The Kiss

_A/N: THANK YOU - over 100 reviews. You guys are so awesome. Also, I'm so glad you like The Ghouls - Listen to The Smiths and substitute the lyrics for wizarding terms, and you'll be listening to them too ;) And for such a milestone, I think it's only fitting that I present you with a chapter like this one. _

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: The Kiss

I was swimming. Which was very odd because I'd never actually learned how. I could see the tentacles of the giant squid nearby and huge knots of rushes and reeds surrounded the dark floor of the Great Lake. I was doing the breaststroke underwater and when I looked down, I noticed that I was fully dressed in my school shirt and skirt and robes, which seemed impractical attire for a leisurely swim. And then – I realized that I didn't even have the bubblehead charm or one of those muggle aqualung things – in fact I didn't have _anything_ to help me breathe. I was swimming about twenty feet below the surface with no way to breathe and I _couldn't_ swim. I felt abrupt, sharp pains gouge through my lungs and I fought and struggled to doggy paddle up to the surface because even though I'd been doing the breaststroke just a moment ago, I'd suddenly forgotten how. I let out a soundless, watery scream and my clothes felt heavier than lead on my body; I couldn't push myself up. A grindylow had my ankle and I kicked at it uselessly trying to loosen its grip. I didn't remember the charm to repel them – we'd had an awful teacher during the year we studied dark creatures - a preening old lady who spent more time on her hair than on lesson plans, and I couldn't remember her even mentioning the spell to get rid of them. They weren't like hinkypunks – you couldn't just ignore them – you actually _had_ to fight them, but I didn't know how! As I gasped for breath and felt water start to enter my lungs, Professor Prewett swam sadly beside me, shaking his head when I shouted pathetically for his help. He swam efficiently towards another struggling figure that I recognized as Remus, and then Sirius was in front of me, shouting frantically but incomprehensibly, in the form of furious bubbles. As the grindylow began pulling me under to meet my watery grave, I reached for his hand and missed.

I sat up straight in my bed, shaking and gasping hard for breath. Godric, what a horrid dream to have – the mixture of champagne and firewhisky from Slughorn's party must have really got to me. Drowning dreams – they were simply awful!

Still breathing heavily, I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling cold and scared. I needed a hug. I slipped out of my bed and through the hangings so I could tiptoe to Lily's bed – but once I got there, I saw that it was utterly covered from one inch to the other in stuffed toys. What a loser! Why did she need eleven of the things? Sighing in irritation and still wishing I could shake the feeling of not being able to breathe, I tried the less preferable Dorcas' bed. I slipped under her covers and tried to snuggle against her, but she rolled and smacked me across the face with her arm. I clutched my nose in pain as she moaned blearily.

"Kate?" she mumbled, still half asleep. "What in Merlin's foot are you doing in my bed?"

"I had a bad dream," I replied, moving my hands away from my nose and hugging her.

"Kate! I'm trying to sleep – go hug Lily."

"There's no room in her bed. She's having a torrid love affair with Mr Bear and Roy the Panda," I whimpered.

She sighed in exasperation. "Go to Sirius then – I'm _not _hugging you. Oh, I was having the loveliest dream about James. Urgh – I'm going to kill you!"

"You are a very cruel girl, Dorcas," I sniffed and she pushed me brusquely out of her bed.

I stood outside her hangings, running my hands up and down my goose-pimpled arms trying to gather my wits. It was just a bad dream – I bet if I went back to sleep, I would be able to dream about Professor Prewett snogging me instead of going to save Remus instead. How rude of the dream version of him – hadn't he heard of chivalry before? Urgh, I couldn't breathe! I still felt like I had swallowed a gallon of icy seawater and panicked pains were stabbing at my chest. I bit my lip and decided I might as well take Dorcas' advice. Sirius and I had made up now and he did give such great hugs.

I left my wand behind and hurried down the staircase into the Common Room that was dark except for a red glow emitting from the low-burning fireplaces. There were two Seventh Years talking by the fire and Marlene McKinnon was one of them. Generally, she'd never seemed like the swottiest of Prefects, but she did seem to find my presence in the Common Room worthy of interest at that very moment. She sat up straight and looked at me in confusion.

"Where are you going?"

"You're dreaming," I said to her mystically and ignored her frown as I bounded up the boys' staircases two at a time. I turned the corner and entered the Sixth Year Boys' dormitory quickly and silently.

Once I'd closed the door with the softest of clicks, I could hear Peter's snores all the way from the window, but I wouldn't need to go that far – Sirius' bed was the one closest to the door. Holding my breath, I blindly felt my way over to his four-poster and I almost tripped over what I assumed were someone's trousers because what sounded like a belt buckle clinked noisily. I paused to make sure I hadn't woken any of the other boys up, but no one seemed to stir – only Peter gave another piggish grunt. It was absurdly dark even though the moon was only a few days away from being full – the moonlight in the dormitory was still quite dull and hardly illuminated anything. I could only just make out Peter's face because he was closest to the window, and he was out cold – his mouth open and dribbling disgustingly. Thankfully, none of the boys seemed to have drawn the hangings around their beds so I was able to hurry across the room and straight to Sirius' bed without having to struggle through any curtains. I couldn't see him, but I got on his bed quietly and lay down beside him, curled into a ball, listening to his slightly ragged breathing. And then, because I was still out of breath and my chest was tight with coldness, I wrapped my arms around his neck without another thought. He was just sprawled on top of his blankets, with one leg hanging off the opposite side, so it was really the opposite of sexual – just comforting, and I sighed and rested my head on his chest. After a few moments, I felt his arms move unconsciously around me.

One of his hands lightly ran over my hair and his arms squeezed suddenly around me in a tight embrace – it was exactly what I'd needed and any worries over drowning were now gone; I felt safe. I exhaled contentedly and raised my head to press a few light kisses to his neck. He sighed, and I sat up a little so I could peck his mouth. His lips were soft and gentle in response, and when I kissed his cheek, I noticed that he had more stubble than he'd had a few hours ago at the party. Perhaps boys' facial hair grew quickly overnight – who knew? I stroked the side of his face, feeling much more calm, when he started to groan and his arms released me. He half sat up and in the process, shifted my head off his chest.

"Wha–"

And then Sirius moved and fumbled for something on his bedside table and muttered, "Lumos."

And it wasn't Sirius at all – it was _Remus!_

"AGH!" he shouted and I tried to jolt up and out of the bed, but my foot got tangled in the sheets and I somehow ended up tripping over his leg and fell right over his body and rolled headfirst off the other side. I landed with a painful thump and suddenly Peter's snores had stopped and two more sleepy mutters of 'Lumos' lit up the room. Oh, Godric, let the floor open up and swallow me whole.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" I heard Sirius' drowsy voice say from somewhere behind me, but my stare was still fixed in horror on Remus' bright red face – bathed in wand light, and I could honestly say that I'd never seen him more shocked. He was touching his mouth like he'd been stung and he looked lost for words. To be fair, I felt kind of the same way.

I snapped my neck around and saw James propping himself up on his elbows, ruffling his hair and gawking down at me in confusion and to the right of him, sitting up shirtless in Remus' bed, was my boyfriend looking completely out of sorts.

"Oh – it's just Kate. No surprises," James said with a huff, falling back against his pillows and yawning. Sirius however, kicked his legs off the bed and raised an eyebrow at me, and then at Remus. I couldn't see Remus' expression because I was defiantly stopping myself from turning back around to face him, but if the flush of my own cheeks was any indication – he was bound to be a million times worse.

"What were you doing?" Remus muttered from behind me, but I continued to stare at Sirius. I couldn't talk – I couldn't _look _at Remus. Oh my Merlin – I had just cuddled and KISSED Remus Lupin.

"Um…"

Sirius had come to perch on James' bed in front of me as I kept my back stubbornly to Remus. My recently forgiven boyfriend looked down at me with a bemused smile and quirked an eyebrow questioningly. He didn't look angry – just curious.

"I had a bad dream," I murmured.

There were a few beats of unbearably painful silence before anyone spoke again.

"So, you thought you'd come and snuggle with Remus and it would be all better?"

Sirius broke into laughter now and I was surprised to hear Remus do the same.

"No! I was coming to hug _Sirius_, to maybe get some reassurance and kind kiss, and then I was going to go back to my room and get some sleep!" I said huffily. James turned on to his side and propped his head up on his arm looking suddenly wide-awake and very interested. Peter's snores had started back up, but the boys ignored him – all eyes were fixed resolutely on my agonizingly heated face.

"So…you just snogged Remus?" James asked with a smirk.

_Oh, someone avada me – please!_

Sirius barked another laugh and I could hear the smile in Remus' voice as he answered.

"Yeah, she did."

I whirled around to look at him and was shocked that he wasn't red anymore and was actually laughing conspiratorially with his mates and looking utterly unruffled.

"I didn't _snog_ him!" I snapped. It had just been a little peck – barely a kiss at all. I felt an uncomfortable flutter run through my stomach and I grimaced at Sirius, who was now howling with laughter.

"Oh my Godric, Kate! You didn't _just _snog him? So, do you mean to say, you just stole Moony's virginity?"

He, James and Remus burst into hilarity again and it was so obnoxious, it even covered up Peter's loud snores. As soon as I got out of there, I was genuinely going straight to the tallest tower and throwing myself off. HOW was Remus so at ease? Normally he would have self-combusted at the mention of sex!

"No…" I spat, glaring at my boyfriend and trying to sound nonchalant. "I haven't stolen _anyone's _virginity."

James and Remus stopped laughing for a moment and they both shifted their gaze to Sirius who had also stopped his barking and was now biting his lip grimly.

He rolled his eyes and rudely stuck two fingers up at me. Taking his lack of retort as confirmation, James burst into renewed mirth, clutching his ribs with one hand and smacking Sirius' back with the other.

"Are you telling me Padfoot – with all the time you two have spent up here alone – you haven't even gone the full monty?"

I smirked at that, as Sirius punched his laughing friend.

"Oh you can talk! What's the furthest you've got – Mr Do-you-think-she'd-like-it-if-I-nibbled-her-lips-a-bit?"

James fell silent at that, but still bit back a grin, his eyes shining.

"Anyway," Remus cut in. "Shouldn't we be more focused on Cuddles over here? I mean it's three in the morning, Kate – I was having a very pleasant dream."

James and Sirius chortled again and I narrowed my eyes at Remus as his mouth twitched wildly. GAH – I had just kissed that mouth. AGH.

"Why have you two switched beds anyway?" I asked stiffly, averting my eyes from Remus' nauseatingly calm expression.

Sirius shrugged. "I was drunk and fell asleep in Moony's."

"And so, I took Padfoot's. If I'd known the kind of skullduggery I'd be forced into – I would've made more of an effort to wake him up. I feel a bit _used_," Remus grinned.

"Shut up Remus!" I snapped, hauling myself up from the floor as the idiots roared like hyenas again. "I'm going back to bed!" I added, stomping to the door.

"Where are you going Cuddles? Remus is right there!"

I shrieked as they fell about laughing again, making annoying kissing noises, and I slammed their dormitory door as loudly as I could. When it was closed, I leaned against it and took a deep breath, putting my icy fingers against my hot cheeks. Merlin, I had never been so embarrassed in my life! And Remus – how dare he pick that moment to stop blushing like a prude? I was never going to forgive him for this.

* * *

"So…you snogged _Remus_ last night?" Lily asked for the thousandth time on our way down to breakfast. I felt another annoying flush on my cheeks and I nodded dourly as she and Dorcas exchanged a look.

"But you and Sirius are back together…" Dorcas said as we headed down the staircases. I wished they would stop talking; I was humiliated enough without having to rehash the whole horrible event multiple times.

"Affirmative," I nodded.

My beastly, insensitive friends burst into laughter – again for the seven hundredth time – and I hissed in annoyance, stomping several yards ahead to get away from their shrieking.

"And what was the name they called you?" Lily said as they easily caught up and we passed through the doors into the Great Hall.

"Cuddles," I replied through gritted teeth and they burst into loud laughter again.

"Something funny?" Archie had just grabbed Lily's wrist and we slowed so she could talk to him. Her eyes darted to me questioningly and I sighed heavily.

"Well, I suppose everyone will find out soon enough," I said and then practically ran across the room to get to The Gryffindor table while the girls excitedly told Archie what they were giggling about. I groaned when I realized that I'd run from one group of laughing people to another: Sirius and James burst into identical grins and Remus chuckled to himself as I sat down.

"Morning Cuddles! Sleep well?" James asked.

I said nothing and poured myself a cup of tea.

"Get out of the wrong side of the bed Cuddles? Or did you just miss Remus when you woke up?" Sirius laughed. I threw him a death glare but he ignored me as he and James fell about, chortling repulsively.

"Ah, give it a rest," Remus said, though he was still smiling too.

"Emmeline will never have him now – you've tainted his innocence," James sighed as I snatched the plate of bacon from next to him.

"I wonder who'll break it to her?" Sirius said shaking his head in mock regret.

"You've ruined them before they even got started," James added sadly, and then even Remus couldn't contain his laughter.

"Oh shut up Remus – that was the best kiss of your life!" I snapped.

"Well, you would know better than me. I was unconscious for half of it," Remus replied lightly and the two other berks snickered and slapped his back appreciatively.

"Oh shut up!" Peter said loudly from beside me, making his presence at the table known. The rest of the Marauders surprisingly obeyed and looked at their plates with unconvincing solemnity.

I felt a burst of affection for Peter and threw my arms around him, squeezing him tightly. "Peter! You are my new best friend – thank you so much for sticking up for me – I will never again call your girlfriend Fringy."

When I released him, I saw Sirius shaking his head imperceptibly and James and Remus were watching Peter rather tensely. When I turned back to face the smallest Marauder, I saw that his face was purple with what looked suspiciously like anger.

"She dumped me," he said through a clenched jaw.

Oh, bollocks.

"Peter! That's awful, I'm so sorry – how can I help my bestest mate in the world?"

"Help?" he spat. "You were supposed to apologize to Sarah and when you didn't, Jenny dropped me."

My mouth fell open. Oh Merlin and Morgana – I had completely forgotten about my promise. I was terrible! Suddenly, I realized that he was only telling everyone to shut up because he was depressed and didn't want to hear people laughing when he was in the dumps.

"Peter I…"

"Just shut up, Kate. Shut. Up."

"Wormtail," Remus said warningly. "Relax."

"Yeah, it's not Kate's fault – you said Jenny was angry that you didn't get an invite to Sluggy's party," James added.

"I am _so_ sorry Peter. Would it help if I went and apologized now?" I said, looking down the table for Fringy and McDanger.

"Don't bother, Kate – Pete, you're better off without her," Sirius said, dismissively.

"Maybe I can set you up on dates too!" I suggested and the boys exchanged looks as Peter considered my offer.

"Or you could always cuddle with him?" Sirius suggested, waggling his eyebrows, and even Peter joined in with the laughter as I threw my spoon at him.

A few hours later, I was reading WME in the Common Room by myself because the girls were doing homework and I wasn't in the mood to start mine. Peter was brooding, Remus was taking a nap, and James and Sirius were getting ready for Quidditch practice, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with much more ribbing.

"Hey gorgeous," Sirius said as he plopped on to the sofa beside me wearing his Quidditch things. James was talking to Rolanda and Krish nearby, so I assumed they were all on their way down to the pitch.

"Captain Kill-joy at it again?" I asked watching James as he gestured wildly at his two teammates. They didn't look impressed with his raised voice.

"Yeah he had Liz and Spindle go down and start practicing passing an hour early. You'd think we didn't even win our first match."

"So how's Peter?" I asked shifting so I fit under the crook of his arm. He played with a piece of my hair and chuckled.

"Being a moody git. We've left Remus to deal with his wrath. Poor bloke can't even gloat about Emmeline because Pete's being such a downer."

"Hang on!" I asked pulling on Sirius' collar. "What happened with Emmeline?"

Sirius quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "No one told you? They got off after Slughorn's party. Took him long enough."

"WHAT?"

Sirius stuck a finger in his ear and grimaced. "Your voice - I've never told you how beautiful it sounds when you're flipping out."

I laughed and shoved him. "How could he keep this from me?"

"Maybe he very rationally assumed it was none of your business," Sirius chuckled and then broke into a wave of new laughter, struggling to speak through his chortles. "Or maybe he thought you'd be jealous since you snogged him yesterday."

I rolled my eyes as he continued to laugh. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs - go easy on him Katie," Sirius smiled as he stood up. "I'll see you later."

I waved as he joined an impatient James and once the two of them left the Common Room, I hurried up the boys' staircase to badger my slippery friend for details. Once I got up there, I knocked politely and waited, hoping Peter wouldn't throw me out. Thankfully, Remus opened the door putting a finger to his lips before pulling the door shut and sighing wearily.

"Peter finally tired himself out complaining. Come to the kitchens with me, will you? I'm starving."

I nodded and we headed out of the Common Room, with me feeling impatient, and Remus humming a Roaring Horntails song. He actually sounded strangely in tune compared to when we sang our awful songs together - I suppose my terrible tone-deaf warbling put him off.

Despite my impatience, I didn't immediately ambush him. It would probably be better to wait until we were sitting down and I had his full attention.

"Didn't you eat enough at breakfast?" I asked as we turned the corner towards the main staircase.

He shrugged. "Yeah, but I always get extra hungry around this time of the...um, when I'm getting ill."

"Aren't you over that yet?"

"Not until after tomorrow night. I think I'll take the day off tomorrow and go to the Hospital Wing. I think the worst will be over by then," he said surely. I held back laughter as we made our way downstairs and past Peeves, who was so busy snickering to himself that he didn't see two students ripe and ready for torture.

"That is really a bizarre gift to have - knowing when you're getting sick. I noticed that we have a test in Transfiguration tomorrow that you'll miss. _Very _convenient, Remus," I said elbowing him.

He laughed a bit bitterly. "Trust me, it's a curse. I'd do anything to be at that Transfiguration test tomorrow." He sighed and gestured down the small hallway leading to the Kitchens and I rolled my eyes.

"Why are all my friends such swots?"

"Because if all of your friends were like Sirius and James, you would have happily spent the last six years doing nothing but playing Snap."

"Sounds brilliant," I smirked, watching as he tickled the pear on the picture of the bowl of fruit that covered the entrance to the Kitchens.

The door swung open and several happy House Elves greeted us. One of them was the cousin of my House Elf, Clary, so he happily pushed the others aside and offered to bring us tea, biscuits and a large bacon sandwich for Remus. After thanking the little guy, we sat down at the little table in the corner nook and I watched Remus as he stretched and yawned. He was being entirely infuriating keeping this from me. Surely he knew how much the suspense was killing me? When he'd finished yawning for the millionth time, he folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on them and gave me a small, completely ignorant, smile.

"REMUS!" I yelled and he jumped.

"What?"

"Aren't we going to talk about this?" I demanded in fury and his brows pulled together.

"Talk about what?"

I shrieked-sighed and glared at him. He looked like he wanted to laugh but since Remus is kind, and doesn't usually _mean_ to annoy me, he held back the urge.

"Last night?" I prompted, widening my eyes at him in the most obvious way possible.

He still looked lost.

"Er…The Ghouls? Didn't we already exhaust that topic for over an hour after breakfast?"

I hissed and he looked amused, cocking his head to the left slightly, studying me in puzzlement as he settled against his arms.

"No Remus! The kiss? Does that ring any bells in your painfully oblivious mind?" I snapped.

The response was bizarre.

He sat up straight, opened his mouth, shut it again and then ran his hand through his hair. He leaned back slightly and then just opened and shut his gob over and over again. BLAGH! I was going to murder him for keeping me in the dark this long.

"Miss and Sir – Bumpy has your food," said the squeaky voice of Clary's cousin. I almost corrected him because I could have sworn my House Elf had said her cousin was called Blobby, but I suppose he probably knew his own name.

"Thanks Bumpy," I said distractedly as he placed the tea, biscuits and sandwich between Remus and I on the table. Meanwhile, Remus was still opening and closing his mouth like an idiot, so I turned to Bumpy to make casual conversation while I waited for my friend to return to normal.

"So how's it going? Clary told me to say hello if I saw you."

Bumpy beamed. "That is kind of you Miss – if you please, tell Clary that she is owing me three butterbeer corks."

Was that some mad kind of House Elf currency?

"Have you two been gambling again?" I said, elbowing the little guy. He gave me a funny look and bowed.

"No Miss, Bumpy is collecting butterbeer corks. He has the biggest collection in Hogwarts. Enjoy your food!"

And then he ran off.

It was very odd – but no odder than Remus, who still seemed to be mute.

"Hello? Earth to Remus! Are you going to say anything?" I asked, turning back to him impatiently.

His eyebrows were so bunched up; they were almost one straight line.

"W-What about yesterday?" he finally asked, clearing his throat.

"Why are you stuttering? Surely you knew I was going to bring it up," I said, rolling my eyes and flipping my hair over my shoulder.

He shook his head and I sighed.

"Well, sorry to surprise you – but obviously I want to know what you think!"

He swallowed and a hand flew back up to his hair. I think he must have learned this particular habit from James because he wasn't normally so obsessed with grooming himself. After a moment, he pulled his hand away and lowered it to rest carefully on the table. A random piece of hair was still sticking up, but he finally looked less appalled.

"You…you want to talk about the kiss?" he said, his voice finally sounding normal and less strained.

"No actually, Remus. I am quite clearly perfectly content not knowing what you're thinking," I replied sarcastically.

"Er? What?"

I almost threw my cup of tea at him. All this time, I'd thought that Remus was a remarkably intelligent bloke for his age, but apparently he was nearly as dim as his mates.

"What did you think about the kiss?" I asked slowly, emphasizing each word like I was talking to a six-year-old.

His eyes were still wide and his mouth was twitching strangely while he thought. Honestly, at this point I was beginning to think I ought to apologize to Emmeline for making her suffer through this insanity. Imagine her getting Remus to talk about his feelings and getting _this_ response.

"Um…I don't really know," he said, scratching his head. "I was a bit… out of it."

Had he been that drunk? I hadn't seen him until the early hours of the morning during my –_ ahem_ – indiscretion in his room. I guess I hadn't noticed him hitting the firewhisky after The Ghouls finished playing.

"Yeah, but surely you remember enough about it to know if you liked it or not?" I prodded.

He looked even more alarmed at these words and I thought that really all hope of a straight answer was lost.

"I, um, I don't know. Do you really…well – you want to know?"

"Of course I want to know! What was it? Did it mean anything?"

Honestly, I was going to have to drag it out of him. I should have just asked Sirius for the details – Remus was ridiculous.

"I don't know," he said, looking at the table with his eyes still frozen in that wide-eyed, strange way. "What do you think?"

Why was he asking me? That was absurd! Obviously I was thrilled they'd kissed – I had worried that it wasn't working out after he'd told me she was bored at the party.

"I think it's great," I said gently, to coax him into admitting the same thing.

"Really?" he asked. His mouth set into a bewildered frown.

"Of course! I reckon it's sort of been coming for a while. But I am a bit surprised by it, I guess. I didn't think it was really on the cards after what happened at the party."

"You…hang on." He wet his lips and his hands tangled in his hair again. "You think that kiss has been coming for a while?"

I chuckled. "Well for a week or so, at least. What are you going to do about it?"

His mouth fell open and he made a weird noise at the back of his throat. I laughed again and kicked his foot lightly under the table. Maybe I'd just forgotten about how uncomfortable talking about kissing made him.

"I…what_ should_ I do about it?"

"Well," I shrugged. "You should make a move."

He half stood up and then fell back in his seat and kicked his chair on to its back legs to lean against the wall. He let the back of the chair hit the brick and he stared at me appraisingly. The piece of hair that had been sticking up unfolded and fell back into place as he swallowed and spoke again.

"But…what about Sirius?"

Sirius? What did he have to do with anything? Was Remus _still _worrying that his mate might be annoyed that he was going out with his ex-girlfriend? Merlin, he was bonkers.

"Sirius won't care! I don't think he remembers Emmeline exists half the time."

Remus let the chair drop back to the floor with a loud thump and his mouth closed, though his eyes were still wide and blinking rapidly. He nodded and took an abrupt bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly as I stared back at him expectantly.

"Yeah, I don't know," he muttered once he'd swallowed. "We'll see how it goes."

And then he busied himself with eating his sandwich, and his tone had a sense of finality to it. It was obvious that the conversation was closed.

Bloody exhausting endeavour to squeeze a simple "We'll see," out of him. Boys – completely barking.

* * *

_A/N: What can I really say after this chapter? I'd love to hear what you think!_


	18. Wasn't really the best day

_A/N: This chapter was a little weird to write because I started it when I was having a bad day and then finished it when I was having a good day. It was odd. THANK YOU so much for your amazing reviews - that was the best response I've had on a chapter in this story._

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Wasn't really the best day

Monday: the day of the devil. In the rankings of all the Mondays I had ever lived, this one probably ranked in the top ten and it didn't even have anything to do with my love life. The Monday after I'd found out about Lizzy and Sirius' dalliance was only marginally worse than this one.

It wasn't even one awful thing – it was more like lots of very annoying things happening one after each other. It started with there being no bacon at breakfast and then as I was reaching for the last piece of toast, a First Year let out an enormous sneeze and covered it in thick green bogies. It had put me off the meal altogether and my stomach was grumbling all through my morning lessons. Break wasn't much better: Filch's idiotic cat ran through my legs in the corridor after Lunch and tripped me over and the foolish caretaker told _me_ off for stepping on the mad cat's tail. He made matters worse when Mafalda passed by and he demanded that she dock points from me. That made Mafalda angry and she gave me a lecture all the way to Transfiguration. And of course, even though I'd been expecting it – we had that bloody test. I was prepared – Lily and Dorcas and I had quizzed each other the previous evening – but as soon as McGonagall sent the list of questions flying at each of us, my mind went blank. I couldn't remember a thing. I couldn't even remember the incantation to make birds fly from your wand even though I'd heard Lily practicing it about seventy times over the weekend. When it came to the essay portion on Mammal Transfigurations, my head was pounding and the best I could come up with was – "You wave your wand, say some words and something happens." I, of course, used longer and more intelligent sounding words, but I think that was the gist of my whole essay. It didn't help matters when Dorcas wanted to go over all of the questions in detail afterwards. I spent my last lesson of the day – History – listening to her fretting over her only slightly incorrect description of the Avis spell as I scratched angrily at my parchment and kicked myself for not remembering such an easy incantation.

And then Binns gave me detention because I'd scratched through my parchment so furiously; I'd accidentally scratched the desk. He shrieked about vandalism and disrespect and even though Dorcas tried to be supportive for once, I snapped at her when she suggested that I use less pressure when I was writing. She got in a strop with me then, and because I couldn't possibly handle listening to her huffing and puffing, I stopped dead in the middle of a crowded corridor to apologize in the over-the-top fashion that she seemed to find fitting. And then, because when it rains, it pours – Peeves dropped a bucket of water over my head and I was quite literally drenched from head to toe. I clenched my fists and took steadying breaths so I wouldn't lose it, when I heard a Third Year pervert yell,

"Look! You can see her boobies!"

Because the stupid school shirt is white, and water and white clothing don't mix – it was completely see-through. I tugged my robes around me tightly until we got to a secluded corner and Dorcas offered to put a drying spell on my shirt. And even though I managed to thank her fairly graciously and ignore the smile twitching on her face, I was still in the foulest of foul moods.

So, I suppose it wasn't really the best day for Lily to insist that Dorcas and I spend an evening with her boyfriend for the first time. Archie was a Seventh Year and in a different house, so we hadn't had a proper chance to get to know him yet. I was surprised to realize that since that first day at Charms Club, I had only had maybe one or two conversations with him. Dorcas knew him a little better because apparently they'd chatted during Slughorn's party while Remus and I were consumed with The Ghouls' performance. Apparently the world hadn't ceased to spin for them, like it had for me. But as it turned out, Dorcas wasn't a huge fan of the dishy Ravenclaw. On our way down to the Entrance Hall, where we were set to meet up with Archie and Lily, she shared her concerns with me.

"It's not that he's a bad lad," she said, biting her lip. "He isn't. It's more the way she is around him. She doesn't seem herself – she lets him talk for her and cut into her sentences and I don't know…"

I frowned. "But Lily doesn't let anyone speak for her. Remember the time she had laryngitis and insisted on holding up those comically large pieces of parchment with her retorts instead of letting us read them out for her?"

"Yeah that's what I mean. I think she likes that he's older and decisive, but I worry that she lets him bully her into things," she said, lowering her voice as we headed down the main staircases and waved to the couple sitting on the stone benches outside The Great Hall.

"Like that ridiculous Medieval Month convention thing he's taking her to in Hogsmeade next week?" I asked.

"Exactly – he even picked out the costume she's going to wear," Dorcas muttered. "But I guess, even if he's a bit domineering, we should give him the benefit of the doubt right? She likes him."

"Right," I agreed but I felt a wave of worry run over me as we greeted Lily and Archie and settled down on some chairs Lily had conjured for us.

"No, no," Archie said, making us stand up again and vanishing the seats. "Lily, do it again – those won't last three hours."

"Oh well, I did that so that they would disappear. Dinner is in a couple of hours and we don't need them for that long," she said, but nodded anyway and made a new set of chairs appear. Dorcas and I exchanged a look as Archie inspected them and then patted Lily on the head.

"Much better."

"Anything's better than sitting on the floor anyway," I shrugged.

The conversation was light for the most part, talking about my horrible morning, NEWTs and the last Quidditch match when Slytherin had embarrassed Hufflepuff with a landslide victory. Archie seemed nice enough and Dorcas seemed to be laughing at his jokes more than I would have expected. It was also clear that he certainly liked Lily very much, but when the conversation turned to what jobs we wanted to do after Hogwarts, I grew warier. Dorcas had been right to be concerned – Lily, who was usually about the most confident, independent and steadfast girl I knew, hardly seemed able to form a thought for herself when Archie was around.

"Why did you bother with Care of Magical Creatures?" he asked as he pulled her to his side.

"I wanted a class where I could have some fun – everything else is so stressful. Arithmancy especially – I wish I hadn't taken it to be honest," Lily shrugged and he laughed and patted her hand.

"Arithmancy is extremely important for sharpening your deductive skills. If you want to be an Auror or Healer or any job of importance – it's absolutely vital," he said.

"I'm going to be an Auror," Dorcas put in. "And I didn't take Arithmancy."

"Me either," I nodded. "Crap - I bet it'll be helpful for when I have to do the finance books at my pub. Too bad I chose History instead. Perhaps I can make it a goblin-revolution themed establishment – you know, so it's not a total waste."

Lily and Dorcas laughed and Archie smiled indulgently.

"You don't need much to open a pub. I'm sure you'll be just fine, Katherine."

"Just Kate is fine, Archibald," I said stiffly and our eyes met evenly before Archie shrugged and hugged Lily again.

"My Lily's going to be something important, aren't you love?"

Lily smiled. "Well, I hope so."

"Just being Lily Evans is a pretty important job, in all fairness," I said and Dorcas laughed again. We exchanged a glance and Lily narrowed her eyes at us. Okay, I guess we weren't really giving him that 'chance' we said we would.

"So what are you going to be?" Dorcas asked Archie.

"Minister for Magic, I suppose," I said and then grimaced at my uncontrollable mouth and looked away.

I heard him give a little huff. "In fact, that_ is_ my goal. Of course I intend to work my way up in the Magical Law Enforcement Department first though."

"Prewett's submitting Archie's name for Excellence in Defence Against the Dark Ar–," Lily said.

"Oh it's nothing," he replied, interrupting her and waving a hand.

Modesty – there was one good quality, I suppose.

"My father had his name submitted after OWLs – I was a bit overdue for recognition. He was forced to put in a letter to Dumbledore over it."

Yuck.

Thankfully Dorcas chose to bring up Slughorn's party then, and the three of them broke into laughter and carried on chatting about the various things that had happened while Remus and I were watching The Ghouls .

I was glad to tune out the conversation because I was really beginning to get annoyed at Archie. It wasn't because he cut into Lily's sentences or put words in her mouth. That was forgivable – sometimes we're all a bit impatient to get our own words heard. Like Dorcas had said, the biggest problem with the Ravenclaw was the way Lily acted around him. It was all well and good to change when you had a boyfriend – I was guilty of that myself – but Lily wasn'tlike_ this_. She didn't take _anyone's_ crap and if anyone but her boyfriend said some of the things he said, I swear they wouldn't even know what hex hit them. But I suppose it was because he was nice and charming and said sweet things to her that she was able to look past these gaping misgivings and continue to fancy him anyway. Besides, as used as the phrase was, I really didn't know him like she did.

"There she is!"

I looked up and saw two Fourth Year Hufflepuff girls pointing at me and whispering to each other.

"Can I help you?" I snapped loudly and my friends stopped their laughter.

"That was a bit rude. We were having a conversation!" I heard Archie mutter to Lily.

"They're whispering about her – she's just finding out what it's about," she replied and I smiled a little. It was good to know that even if she did take too much crap from him, she drew the line at crap about me.

"Oi you two," I said to the girls sharply. "Have something to say?"

Their eyes looked wide, but not frightened and they practically skipped over to me, bouncing on the balls of their feet as they looked down at me.

"You're Kate Hopkirk, right?"

"Oh like you needed a bigger head," Dorcas muttered as I felt my chest swell. It had taken a fair few years for me to be known in my own right and not as 'Mafalda Hopkirk's lazy sister', so this was a pretty big moment for me.

"I am," I said gracefully. "How can I help you?"

"You're setting Remus Lupin up on dates, aren't you?" The one with the fluffy brown hair looked so excited, she had to clutch to her friend with the black pixie cut.

"Um, not really," I said, glancing at Lily and Dorcas who shook their heads confusedly at me.

"But Sarah Hobbs in your house said…"

"Oh, well I am…sort of. But he's er – taken for the moment. Emmeline Vance?"

"Ohhh!" The pixie cut said. "Well, if she doesn't work out for Remus – can I go on the list?"

"I want to go out with Remus too!"

At that precise moment, Sirius and James appeared around the corner and heard Fluffy-head's statement and their eyes widened with glee. They quietly walked forward and stood silently behind the two Fourth Years.

I coughed back my first proper laugh of the day. If only Remus wasn't ill and holed up in the Hospital Wing – I would love to see his face overhearing this conversation. James and Sirius' expressions were worth ten thousand galleons, but Remus' would've been priceless.

"Well," I said, managing to hide my smile. "I don't know. The waiting list is pretty long."

"Yeah, you promised I'd be next on the list," Sirius said and the two Hufflepuffs jumped in surprise.

"No, me!" James pouted, crossing his arms dramatically.

The two girls turned around slowly and judging by the backs of their ears, they were blushing furiously as James and Sirius grinned down at them. Dorcas started laughing and then I couldn't help joining in and the girls looked so horrified, they both tried to run away but ran right into each other and their heads bumped together.

"They're just teasing," Lily said, jumping to her feet. "Ignore them."

"Yeah I'm sorry," I said, as another giggle slipped between my lips. "I really will keep you in mind."

They nodded, cheeks still blazing and scurried off and Lily shoved me lightly.

"Do you have to be so mean? They were so embarrassed!" she sighed.

"We were only teasing Evans," James spoke up and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Isn't that what I _just _said to them?" she asked flatly and his hand went automatically to his hair.

"Right."

Lily gave him and then me, another look before she sat back down beside Archie – who looked wholly unimpressed with our display. He was just chewing on his lip watching James and Sirius warily.

"How's Remus?" I asked Sirius, throwing my arms around his neck to kiss him hello.

Sirius yawned and didn't even hug me back. "Fine, tired. We all are."

"How come whenever I want to visit him in the Hospital Wing, he says it's no big deal and then you lot spend all night huddled around his sickbed?" I asked, twirling a piece of his hair. He shrugged in response.

"You can go see him now. The worst is over."

"Okay grumpy guts," I said poking at the scowl on his mouth. "Did Peeves spill water on you too? Why are _you_ so moody?"

"No sleep, Quidditch practice," Sirius sighed and tilted his head towards James, who despite looking equally tired was tossing his broomstick back and forth between his hands as he talked to Archie about Pitch schedules.

"Nosy girlfriends on top of all of that," he muttered tiredly.

"You're rude," I said, shoving away from him.

"Where are you off to then, James?" Dorcas asked once Archie had stopped complaining that Gryffindor always got the best Practice times.

James looked down at his Quidditch robes and the broomstick in his hand and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Um, the Pitch. Was that not obvious?"

"With you?" I cut in, moving backwards to appraise James. "Honestly, no. I've seen you wear your Quidditch robes in the bath."

Sirius rolled his eyes as Dorcas and Lily gaped at me.

James sighed. "That _one _time. And you shouldn't have been in there anyway!"

Lily let out a loud giggle and stared at me in disbelief. "You saw Potter in the bath?"

"Jealous, Evans?" James asked, waggling his eyebrows. Everyone except him seemed to glance at Archie, but he looked unperturbed. Lily however, didn't.

"Yes Potter, that's exactly the reason I asked that question! It didn't have anything to do with the fact that it's odd that Kate's seen you in the bath," she snapped, rolling her eyes.

James grimaced and opened his mouth to retort, but I cut in to stop the situation from escalating.

"Isn't the more important question – why does Potter wear his Quidditch things in the bath?"

"Leaving now," James groaned, thankfully looking less annoyed. "Padfoot?"

"Yup," Sirius nodded stonily, picking up his broom once more.

"Oh, d'you mind if I come along and watch?" Dorcas asked, getting to her feet. I gave her a frantic shake of the head because I really didn't want to be alone with Lily and Archie but she only had eyes for James.

He glanced at Sirius who was rolling his neck back and massaging his shoulders and then he looked at me and shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. Kate, you coming?"

"To watch Quidditch?" I said making a face. "No thanks." I would take dull, controlling Archibald over watching Quidditch practice, which was even more unbearably boring than regular matches. Plus, I could always escape and go visit Remus and give Lily a chance to snog Archie - he must've been a good kisser at the very least, given the fact that his personality left much to be desired. If I went to watch Practice with Dorcas, she would inevitably bore me to tears with her explanations of the finer points of the sport.

Even though Dorcas was talking a mile a minute about some move she'd read about, James threw me a look of exasperation. I found that quite surprising because normally he couldn't resist any conversation about Quidditch – but I supposed he was tired and moody as well. Like I've said – The Marauders don't do well on too-little sleep. He cut into whatever Dorcas was saying, and grabbed Sirius' elbow.

"Come on! We've got to play Slytherin before Christmas and there's no way in hell I'm giving up my winning record just because we pulled an all-nighter!"

"Go with Godric, Sirius. You will survive!" I called, cupping my hands around my mouth and making an echo.

Sirius finally broke into a grin at that and pretended to hang himself with the hood of his robes. I laughed when he reached dramatically for me as James tugged him back, and the three of them headed away through the castle doors.

When I turned around, ready to bid farewell to Lily and Archie and go up to visit Remus, I was worried to see that the couple was arguing.

"Do you have to let him rile you up so much? There's a way to handle people like Potter and it's simply ignoring them. You don't need to mouth off like that!" Archie scolded.

Lily stared at him and her mouth dropped open and I averted my eyes.

"Potter doesn't respond to indifference, Archie! I've been dealing with him for years. It wasn't like I was rude or anything," She replied and I felt a cheer ring through my chest glad that she was standing up for herself.

He gave her a look and then glanced at me before he said anything. "Your whole group – you handle things too immaturely. Just tell him to leave you alone and he will. In fact, why don't you let me talk to him?"

She stared and then looked at me. "Kate, what do you think?"

I shrugged and my eyes slid coldly to Archie. "I think that Lily is handling James in a perfectly normal way. They have this routine down pat – you don't need to get involved."

Archie looked incredulous and then the two of them shared a look before he huffed and stood up.

"Fine, deal with it however you want! Don't bother listening to reason!" He shoved past me and headed away down the corridor leaving Lily and I looking at each other awkwardly. We were silent for a long while before she sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to drag you into it."

I took Archie's place and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She was stiff and looking down at her lap.

"That's all right."

She bit her lip and looked at me nervously. "Thanks for sticking up for me. He just doesn't understand the whole Potter thing. I should probably explain it to him."

I nodded and before I could stop myself, said, "Yeah. But I don't think you should let him talk to you that way."

She raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"Look, it's fine. You two will work it out – but there's no excuse for him ordering you around like that and making you feel like whatever you do or say is wrong."

"You let Sirius make you feel that way!" she snapped, moving away from me.

"Maybe," I said doubtfully. Sure, sometimes Sirius made me feel like an idiot – but he wasn't really condescending, just blasé more than anything else.

"Godric Kate. You don't have a perfect relationship either – you don't need to spew out hypocritical advice!" she said, standing up and rushing away after Archie.

Honestly, what had I done to deserve a day like this one?

I trudged my way to the Hospital Wing feeling lower than low, wondering if Lily would need an apology or if we could just let our little argument slide. I needed a bloody hug – a really good one. Sirius had been useless – tired and miserable as he was. Maybe I could find Mafalda, but she hated hugging – she always kept her arms at her side instead of around me like she should have done. What a horrid day. I hoped that Remus was feeling better; I couldn't handle another annoyed face.

Pomfrey was in her office, so I headed straight into the Hospital Wing towards Remus, who was lying on his side, facing away from the door with WME open in his hands.

"Hey you! Bunny flu getting you down?" I asked and he turned over and broke into a big smile. His face looked more tired than any of the other Marauders, but he looked more welcoming and friendly than anyone else had all day.

"Hey Kate," he said throatily. "Nice to see you."

"You all right?" I asked, tousling his hair and looking at his drained face in concern. These colds he got really took a lot out of him. Madame Pomfrey ought to do some tests to see if there was something seriously wrong. The world couldn't function if Remus really did have Bunny Flu.

He nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. "Worst is over."

I sighed in relief and threw myself into the chair by his bed and grinned back at him.

"You have no idea how good it is to see someone who's actually happy to see me!"

He chuckled and sat up against his pillows, throwing the magazine on to the bedside table and pulling the covers up over his arms.

"Been on a Katie-spree today, then?"

I laughed and shook my head. "More like the world has conspired against me. I've had the _worst_ day."

"Yeah? I'm sure it was better than lying in a bed all day," he said with a chuckle. "What happened?"

"Well, I failed the Transfiguration test and that was only _after_ Mafalda and Filch yelled at me for tripping over his cat. And there was no bacon and there was bogies on the toast and Peeves dropped a whole lot of water on me and I gave everyone in the corridor a free show–"

He laughed and bit back his smile. "Is that all?"

I pouted. "And Sirius was grouchy because he was up all night, so he was called me nosy. And…" I sighed again, shakily. "Lily and I fought because I think her boyfriend's a controlling twat. And ugh, I just need this day to be over."

His eyebrows pulled together sympathetically and he pulled his arm out from under the covers to reach over and pat my hand.

"Tomorrow will be better."

I nodded. "Will you hug me?"

He laughed and propped his arm behind his head. "I'm in bed."

"So? Please Remus! I need a great big bear hug – I feel awful!"

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Ask Sirius."

I folded my arms in annoyance. "You never hug me. It's like you think he's going to flip out on you for it. In case you forgot – I _kissed_ you and he didn't even care about that!"

He shook his head and his arm slid back down to his side. "I didn't forget."

Suddenly, I noticed a gaping, red scar running from the back of his wrist all the way up to the crook of his arm and it definitely hadn't been there the day before.

"Remus!" I said, lunging forward to grab his arm. "What happened?"

He snatched his arm back and shoved it under the covers.

"Nothing," he said stiffly.

"Did Pomfrey look at that? How could you possibly have done that while you were in bed?"

He shrugged. "Fell over."

"Remus! You fell over and now your arm's mangled?" I asked in despair. And then, very bizarrely – I burst into loud and unstoppable sobs. Through my bleary eyes, I could see that Remus looked shell-shocked.

"Why are you crying?" he asked in alarm.

I shook my head. "I don't know!" I wailed, wiping away the tears. "What happened?"

He started laughing and held his sides and I kept crying and we both couldn't stop and it was quite honestly the weirdest situation you could ever imagine.

"S-Stop laughing!" I hiccupped.

"You're crying – cause – I have a little scar on my arm?" he asked through laughter.

"It was a gash!" I snapped, wiping away my tears and biting my lip to stop it quivering. "And I've had a horrible day."

He chuckled again softly and looked at my teary face with a kind expression.

"You are completely insane," he said exasperatedly. "Come here."

I went eagerly to his impatient arms and he hugged me tightly. Even though it only lasted a few seconds, the tears stopped and I felt finally peaceful. My dramatic sob fest coupled with a lovely, genuine hug was enough to make me feel myself again. Sometimes, you just needed to cry. Remus knocked his forehead against the side of my head lightly before he let go of me and moved all the way to the other side of the bed.

"Tomorrow will be better, Kate."

"Today's better already, Remus. Thanks," I smiled as I sat down again and turned the knob on the wireless to find Gordon Greaves' afternoon show.

* * *

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed - this chapter was more about setting up small arcs in the other characters' lives and less about Kate, Remus and Sirius, but still a dash of them both to keep it relevant. I've got some big things planned for the Christmas holidays and the time after, so hopefully we'll get to those chapters soon - still only the end of November in the story, if that wasn't clear enough. :) Thanks for reading!_


	19. Enchanted Cane

_A/N: Your reviews on the last chapter were so sweet - your favourite lines, your general 'feels,' your concerns over the state of Remus/Kate/Sirius - I love all your messages so much I could melt into a puddle of goo! And thank you to ThatRandomChick about your nice, encouraging words about my stress at work - thankfully that's over for the next few weeks :) I hope you all enjoy this chapter! _

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: Enchanted Cane

"…And in the case of larger mammals, the appropriate action would be to move your wand in the correct motion, say the right spell and the mammal will become whatever you wish it to become."

I crouched lower in my seat as Greta Catchlove laughed loudly beside me. She wasn't the only one – the entire class was in gales of alarmingly loud laughter, and I was the only one who was silent.

"To transfigure a section of a mammal's physique, the accurate course would be to point your enchanted cane at the desired limb and move it through the air in a motion that is suitable for the intended Transfiguration. Utter the recalled incantation and the limb will transform into the shape you wish it to," McGonagall continued stonily.

"Enchanted cane?" I heard Sirius scoff through a chuckle and the class burst into renewed mirth. McGonagall had never been so cruel before – surely she knew that my mind had just gone blank, she didn't really think I was this much of an idiot, did she? I mean, yes – every word she was reading out were actual words I had written into my test paper earlier in the week – but didn't teachers have a sense for what was a joke and what was completely unintentional? Apparently not.

"Was this some kind of very bizarre joke? In what universe, Miss Hopkirk, did you believe that this was acceptable work to hand in to me?" she asked sharply and the class fell silent, with only a few whispers ringing through the suddenly still classroom.

"I assure you Miss, I didn't think it _was _acceptable," I said quietly.

"Did you not prepare for this test? I admit, as I was reading through your essay, I genuinely worried that something might have been wrong, but then I noticed that you answered the first few questions intelligently enough. So, tell me Katherine – _was _it your idea of a joke? Or was it simply a case of boredom or laziness?" she said, staring down at me with heavy disappointment.

"Neither Miss. Just a case of forgetfulness," I muttered back.

"Yes well, I should hope your memory returns when you rewrite this essay for me, along with a paragraph about the Avis spell – I would read that out loud too, but your ink seemed to have disappeared altogether for that section."

"Professor," I said through gritted teeth. "My mind went blank – I literally couldn't remember a thing. It happens to the best of us!"

McGonagall looked surprised and her eyebrows shot up for a moment with recognition.

"I see."

"Caught on, have you Professor?"

The class twittered, obviously wary about me talking back to McGonagall and Greta sniffed loudly.

"Do you need a tissue?" I snapped, turning to her and raising my eyebrows.

She looked scandalized and McGonagall gave a heavy sigh – thankfully ignoring my insubordination. She was usually pretty fair and judging by the expression on her face, now that she knew it hadn't been a stupid joke, she looked regretful about reading my essay out loud and embarrassing me in front of the whole class.

"Katherine, I understand that even the cleverest of students have off days - but why did you not come to me afterwards and explain? Why wait until I reprimanded you for it?"

I shrugged. "If I'd known you were going to think _that_ was my idea of a joke – I would have. I've got standards of wit to upkeep Professor and writing a bad essay doesn't quite make the grade."

There was a long moment of silence as McGonagall surveyed me before she finally sighed and turned away, walking back to the front of the room.

"Now you've all had your laugh but you will see that the majority of you made equally embarrassing errors on your own tests. Those sections that I have marked in red ink must be re-written and presented to me in essay form to be handed in on Monday. The few of you who don't have red marks are exempt from homework this weekend."

I heard Sirius and James give loud shouts of relief and I heard my boyfriend's voice call out, "Professor – have I told you before that I'm in love with you?"

As usual, the sheep burst into cackles and when I looked over my shoulder I saw Sirius grinning at their laughter appreciatively.

"Enough Black," McGonagall said, sitting at her desk and giving us all a nod. "Dismissed. Have a good weekend."

The loud commotion of people packing their things away and my zest for rushing out of the classroom did nothing to stifle McGonagall's soft call of "Hopkirk, stay a moment please."

I sighed heavily and made a face at Greta who turned her nose up at me and left the room with the majority of the others. Lily and Dorcas signaled that they would see me outside and I walked tiredly to McGonagall's desk. This was turning into hell week – a bad Monday ruined everything.

"Yes Professor?" I said dully, adjusting my bag strap on my shoulder.

"Katherine, I want to apologize for singling you out today. It seems my judgment on your work was misguided," she said, graciously.

I shrugged. "That's all right."

"I admit that after I learned that you had received yet _another_ detention from Professor Binns – I let it interfere with my reasoning. I did think that you were perhaps making a mockery of my examination."

I smiled. "So you thought you'd make a mockery of me as a lesson?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Yes, even teachers sometimes make bad decisions. Once again, I do apologize."

I chuckled and waved her off. "You know me, Miss – it just rolls off. No harm done."

She didn't laugh, but frowned instead – studying my face intently. "Are you quite all right, Katherine? You haven't been yourself these past few weeks."

"Me? 'Course Miss – same as always."

"Mr Prewett did inform me of the incident with your Boggart and his Fifth Years."

I laughed openly now and ran a hand through my hair. "Teachers' gossip travels slow – I haven't heard jokes about that one in weeks!"

"You do know, Miss Hopkirk, that you _absolutely_ are enough. No one should ever make you feel otherwise. I understand that being a teenager is very difficult and handling love at your age can be very confusing but if you significant other is––"

I cut her off because I was beginning to get really uncomfortable again. If she started giving me advice about my relationship with Sirius, I would probably dissolve with humiliation.

"Honestly Professor McGonagall, it was nothing. I'm fine. I know I'm perfect just the way I am and all that good stuff."

She smiled. "Well, if you should ever need to talk about something, please don't hesitate."

"Stop Miss, you're embarrassing me!" I said with a laugh and she joined in.

"I've decided to excuse you from your detention with Professor Binns. The damage that was done to the desk was minimal and I have attended to the scrapes already."

I beamed. "You know Professor, I think Sirius had the right idea. I think I'm in love with you too."

She shook her head amusedly and nodded at the door. "That will be all, Katherine."

When I left the classroom, I saw that Lily and Dorcas were waiting for me and also, surprisingly, James. The other Marauders seemed to have gone off to the Common Room, so I turned to him expectantly – he must've needed something.

"What's up?"

He shrugged. "I just thought that since I don't have any Transfiguration homework this weekend, I'd lend you my test paper to help with your essay."

I stared at him in shock and knew that Lily probably had an identical expression on her face.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he said, offering me the sheets of parchment. "It's not like I need them."

I burst into a simpering smile and shook my head. "James, I think I might cry."

He laughed embarrassedly and ran a hand over his hair. "Yeah, well – sometimes I think you're a bit hard done by, Kate."

I clutched my chest. "Stop. What have you done with James Potter?"

"Just take the bloody test!" he said, rolling his eyes and shoving the paper in to my palm.

"Thanks Jamesie – you are now a solid second on my favourite Marauder list."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Before Remus?"

"No, _after_ Remus. Sirius comes in third today for the enchanted cane comment."

He laughed and elbowed me playfully. "Honestly though – what made you think 'enchanted cane' was a more impressive phrase than 'wand'."

"Like I've said – my mind was blank."

He grinned again and then turned to Lily. "Oh Evans, can you tell Davies that Slytherin is training a new Keeper? They're trying to keep it a secret, and I thought all the captains should know."

Lily was the one who looked like the might clutch her chest in surprise now. "Oh. Um, yeah – of course Potter. That's…decent of you."

"Nah, it just makes the Cup more interesting when we're all on a level playing field," he said with another smile. "Well, I'm off to detention. Trophy room for blowing up my cauldron – can't wait to count how many times my name comes up."

"Sounds like the perfect job for you, really," Lily said and he laughed.

"Oh, speaking of Quidditch!" Dorcas put in, as if to remind them she was there. "James, I wanted to tell you about this massive sale that's on at the Quidditch shop in Hogsmeade next weekend."

James' eyes widened a little and he nodded. "Oh cool, yeah."

"I'll walk you to detention – I was on my way to the Library anyway," she said and he nodded again, running his fingers through his hair and ruffling it.

"See ya laters, girls," Dorcas said, as she began chatting to a confused James.

When they were out of sight, Lily sighed softly.

"We should do something about that."

I bit my lip and motioned for her to turn so we could head up to the Common Room. "About Dorcas' increasing obsession with James?"

She shook her head. "I'm worried about her, Kate. She goes out of her way to impress him and he barely gives her a second look. It's not fair."

I nodded. "Yeah, it sucks."

"She's going to get hurt – I know she is," she muttered and I saw that she was twisting her hands together.

"Yeah, probably."

"Should we say something?"

I turned to look at her and she looked so worried, I hugged her. After our argument, we had decided to just agree to disagree, and neither of us had mentioned my concerns about Archie or her insistence that Sirius was just as bad, since.

"Well," I said, twirling a piece of hair around my finger. "I think that if I've stopped saying that I think your boyfriend is controlling and you've stopped saying that Sirius doesn't treat me very well – then we ought to not say anything to Dorcas either."

"It's not the same. It's all one-sided on her part – we know for sure that Potter isn't giving her what she needs or wants," Lily argued.

"Yeah, but I reckon we should let her make her own mistakes. We are, after all."

She laughed with me at that and we fell silent again.

"I wish Potter liked her."

I nodded. "Yeah. It would be easier, wouldn't it?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, for you. Now you know he's not always an arrogant git – and is mostly just a not very funny git, it must make things confusing."

"I don't like him, Kate," she said firmly.

"I know you don't. But I think you know he's not as immature as he used to be. And sometimes lads who are too mature are arses."

She scowled. "I thought we agreed not to talk about Archie."

"Who says I was talking about Archie?"

She sighed and shook her head as we came to a stop outside the Portrait Hole. "Fine. We'll let Dorcas make mistakes and _we'll_ make mistakes, and what happens, will happen."

I smiled. "Very mature way to handle things, I think."

When we entered the Common Room, our eyes immediately zeroed in on the group on the sofas by the fire. Lizzy and Emmeline had joined Sirius, Remus and Peter. Remus and Emmeline were talking animatedly about something in the love seat, Peter was bent over his homework with a frustrated scowl on his face and Sirius and Lizzy were sitting across from each other bent over a magazine on the coffee table. His eyes were bright and she was grinning as she pointed something out. She had a piece of fluff in her hair and when he tore his eyes away from the magazine, a half smile slipped on his face as he tried to direct her to it. She pawed at her fringe, but missed completely and after a moment, he reached over and pulled it from her hair, holding it between them as their eyes locked.

"Crowded today, hey?" Lily said lightly.

"Very."

She nudged me. "Are you going to say something?"

I bit my lip as Lizzy blushed and Sirius dropped the fluff to return to flipping through the magazine.

"Not really worth it," I muttered, before forcing a smile and tugging Lily along with me.

"Hello, hello!" I announced and the group looked up in greeting. Emmeline's eyes widened and darted to Lizzy before they fixed back on me. Remus did something similar and I recognized the usual pity on his face. Peter just harrumphed and threw down his quill.

"UGH! I hate bloody Defence!" he groaned.

"Hello to you too," I said.

"What's wrong Peter?" Lily asked, settling on the chair next to him. "Let me help."

Peter sighed his thanks and the two of them bent over the parchment as Emmeline and Remus started their conversation up again. I stood awkwardly between Sirius and Lizzy wondering if I ought to sit next to him or beside her to make it seem like I was cool with all of this.

"If it isn't the enchanted cane carrier herself," Sirius grinned. "McGonagall let you off easy in the end?"

"Yeah, she even apologized," I said, before turning to Lizzy. "Hey Liz."

She looked surprised and tucked some hair behind her ears. "Oh. Hi Kate – how are you?"

I nodded. "Fair. I've got a whole Transfiguration essay to rewrite – so I can't wait for that."

"Oh," she said wincing. "That's good. I usually hate rewriting essays."

If I could have made the sound of crickets materialize, I would have.

Sirius laughed. "She's joking, Liz."

"Oh!" Lizzy laughed shaking her head. "Sorry! I am so slow."

I smiled. "That's all right – sometimes I'm too funny for people to catch on."

"Also incredibly modest," she grinned and I nodded uncomfortably.

Urgh – sarcasm didn't suit her – we weren't close enough for jokes like that. Even so, I got ready to sit down beside her when Sirius stood up and said, "Just a minute. Kate, can I talk to you a sec?"

He pulled me over a few yards away so we were out of earshot and looked at me hopefully.

"So – I think I've figured out a way around this Liz problem."

I raised an eyebrow. "Problem? What problem?"

He laughed and nudged me. "Remus made me realize the other day, that the reason you get upset over our friendship is because you never see me and her together. You only ever catch us at odd moments where things are out of context. So, I thought if you spent more time with her when she's around me – it'd be easier for you trust me."

He looked so optimistic and so eager for his plan to work, that I didn't have the heart to shoot down his theory. Maybe he was right – maybe I really was seeing things out of context. Maybe she wasn't as dull as a doornail.

"Sure," I agreed and he pulled me to him and kissed me. When we separated, I patted his cheek. "Just…do me a favour?"

He nodded.

"If she gets anything else in her hair – let her pick it out herself."

His eyes widened and his mouth twitched but he covered it by licking his lips. "Sure."

"Great," I said and headed back to the sofas, sitting beside Lizzy with an unceremonious plop. Sirius took his place once more and flipped a page in the magazine. I saw that Remus and Lily were watching with rather tense expressions, so I put on a bright voice and turned to Sirius' Fifth Year 'friend'.

"So, what's this?"

"Oh, my dad owns a garage and he puts out this magazine about motorbikes every couple of months with listings of spare parts and old models," she explained.

Lily had returned to helping Peter, but I saw that even though he was listening to Emmeline, Remus' eyes flickered to watch us a few more times. I would have to remember to hit him for giving Sirius this piece of advice.

"Motorbikes?" I said. "Those muggle car things that you're mad for?"

Sirius nodded. "I've been thinking about getting one for my birthday and Lizzy's dad has all these cheap old ones."

"I was telling Sirius that if he got the bones of the machine, he could put it back together with magical enhancements," she said, turning a page and flipping to a section at the back.

"Yes, very cool," I nodded, disinterestedly. I was a little more focused on the way her cheeks reddened when Sirius' fingertips brushed hers while pointing out a motorbike he liked. Didn't fancy him, my foot.

"Have you tried it before?" Sirius asked.

She shook her head. "Well, I brought back a few mechanical toys to work on here since I can't do magic at home. Everything I've done to them seems to work – the extra accelerator, the invisibility booster. Obviously it'll be a bit harder–"

I tuned out the two-sided conversation and my eyes swept to Remus and Emmeline. He'd stopped looking over now and he had a kind of abashed smile on his face as she spoke. Even when Lily and Peter joined their conversation, his eyes didn't move from her face. I found that it made me a little jealous. Lily, a very attractive, funny girl, who Remus considered a friend – didn't hold his attention at all. He was wholly focused on the girl he was supposed to be focused on – Emmeline. She said something that made him chuckle and his eyes finally strayed for a moment and caught mine. I gave him a small smile and he nodded before turning back to her and saying something. She grinned and then kissed his cheek before she got up and said goodbye to Lily and Peter. When she saw me looking, she waved, glanced at Lizzy and Sirius and then headed off out of the Common Room.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Lizzius – my boyfriend and the apparent Muggle mechanic were still deeply buried in conversation about what spells they would use whenever Sirius got himself one of these motorbikes. They only stopped when Remus cleared his throat.

"Hey Sirius, Kate – do you two have big plans for Hogsmeade next weekend?"

"What?" Sirius asked distractedly before glancing at me. "Oh. Not really. What d'you reckon Kate – lunch and drinks at Broomsticks?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

Remus nodded. "Is it okay if Emmeline and I come with you? Or were you planning on spending time alone?"

"Nah, that's cool – what's wrong? Couldn't get her to agree to a date, so you went with the 'group outing' tactic?" Sirius laughed.

"Oh leave him alone," I said. "You did that with me at the beginning too."

Sirius chuckled a bit uncomfortably and ran a hand through his hair before he glanced at Remus. They shared one of their infamous secretive looks before Remus said, "We're just a bit awkward – thought it would take the pressure off."

"Good idea, Remus!" I beamed. "It'll be a laugh."

He nodded. "Yeah, hope so."

"Okay, so you're saying that a supersensory charm would be better on the stripped down frame?" Sirius asked, turning back to Lizzy.

I sighed and leaned back against the sofa.

As long as Lizzy wasn't around – sure – anything else would be a laugh.

* * *

_A/N: Sooo - I will be going on vacation from July 18th until August 3rd, so I won't be posting at all during those weeks - I'm going to try my best to get around 3 – 4 chapters up before I go, so if my writing roll keeps up, hopefully you'll see more activity from me this week and next. Just wanted to give you a heads up! Thanks for reading! _


	20. Only Second Best

_A/N: Sorry to leave you guys hanging! Thank you as always for your awesome reviews. Eventful(ish) chapter ahead :)_

* * *

Chapter Twenty: Only Second Best

With just over week until the Christmas holidays, I was finally feeling a bit better about the state of my life and those of my friends. Remus and Emmeline were going to Hogsmeade together, Sirius and I hadn't fought, Lily and I hadn't discussed Archie's controlling nature and so far, I hadn't got a detention. McGonagall had even read out the better parts of my rewritten essay in Transfiguration as an example of a respectable effort, and I was feeling pretty good about myself.

I had just stopped in the loos after morning lessons before heading down to Lunch, when two chattering girls entered. Feeling a little stage shy, I waited inside the stall hoping they would leave quickly so I could do my business in peace. When I finally gave up and decided to go for it, I heard them talking. The two girls were discussing the Christmas holiday and it seemed like they were family friends because apparently they were spending it together. As I finished up, their conversation turned to lessons and I began to recognize one of the voices – the first girl was quite clearly Greta Catchlove.

"I swear to Merlin I'm going to ask McGonagall if I can switch seats – I can't handle much more of Hopkirk."

The second girl also sounded familiar, but I couldn't immediately place her voice.

"Why? What did she do?"

Greta sighed laboriously. "More of the same – her melodramatic speeches and cocky laughter. She's got everyone in this school playing up to her every demand and they can't even see it."

How rude. And misinformed. She clearly had never seen me around my friends. Just that morning, when I had suggested that Dorcas only pack the relevant books into her almost split-open school bag, she had snapped at me and said that she would take my advice when she wanted to fail out of Hogwarts. Lily hadn't slept well either and told me off for leaving a puddle of water on the bathroom floor. And Sirius had completely ignored me when I asked if I could have his last piece of bacon at breakfast. I had _no one_ wrapped around my finger. If anything, _I _usually had a very rude finger gesture in return to most of my comments.

"Yeah, I guess she thinks because she's pretty and dating a Marauder, the rest of us ought to bow down to her," said the other familiar voice.

Wow. Tell me how you really feel, mysterious girl.

"I know! She's got everyone fooled – the Marauders especially. Sirius is one thing, she's obviously sleeping with him, but I thought Remus and James would see how fake she is," Greta continued with a loud sniff.

Merlin, someone get that girl a tissue.

"Aw, I don't know. They do seem to like her and Remus was friends with her before she even started going out with Sirius," Mysterious girl replied.

Well, at least she wasn't a total bitch.

"I bet she's leading him on too – she obviously tries to keep him on a leash. I bet she's keeping him as a backup incase Sirius decides to dump her for that Lizzy girl in your year."

Okay ignoring Greta's severely delusional theory about me leading Remus on…at least she'd given up some clues – Mysterious girl was in the same year as Lizzy, not a Sixth Year like me and Greta. Why did her voice sound so familiar? I must know her.

"Do you reckon Remus likes her though? She's been trying to push me into going out with him for weeks."

Emmeline! What? How? Urgh. I shouldn't even be surprised – she did have a reputation for talking behind girls' backs, but somehow I'd thought I was exempt from that because we got along.

"No, I doubt that. He's obviously smitten with you!" Greta replied with a little giggle.

"Honestly," Emmeline continued, hesitantly. "He's nice enough, but I'm not sure there's much attraction there. He's not really my type - he's nothing like Sirius – Merlin, I wish _he _was single."

Greta harrumphed her agreement. "Well, he and Kate have clearly been having problems – maybe you have an in."

Like hell or high water! Godric, my stupid boyfriend was too popular for his own good.

"I don't know, he dumped me last year – I thought it was because he didn't want a serious relationship, but now he's been with Kate for almost six months. I guess it must have been me," Emmeline sighed.

YES. It was her! Her and her manipulative, underhanded, ridiculous thoughts! Urgh, how could I have thought she was right for Remus? Lily had been right – she was all-wrong. Whatever friendship I thought I'd had with Emmeline was clearly a farce and so was her supposed interest in Remus. What could I do? How would I get him out of this mess?

"Don't put yourself down. Kate has everyone fooled – the Professors, the Marauders, everyone. But I can see what's going through her head – she thinks she's better than everyone. But you're much better than her."

"I don't want to steal her boyfriend though," Emmeline replied, finally saying something that sounded like she gave a damn about me. "I'm supposed to go to Hogsmeade with them and Remus – maybe he'll change my mind and I'll start fancying him properly. He _is _such a nice lad, and he does seem to like me."

"You're so lucky!" Greta said.

"Yeah, I don't want to lead him on though. We'll see how it goes."

"What are boys, if not to something to play with though?" Greta laughed and Emmeline chuckled uncomfortably.

I heard them throwing things into their bags and spritzing on perfume, and wondered if I ought to go out and confront them. Normally, I would – but I wasn't sure if I should really call Emmeline out for this. Sure, she hadn't been particularly kind about me, but at least she seemed like she didn't _want_ to treat Remus badly. In the end, my pride got the best of me and I swung the stall door open.

The reaction was exactly how I'd imagined it. Emmeline's jaw dropped and Greta accidentally let the tap spray her with water. She muttered the drying spell to herself and tried to look casual, but both sets of their eyes widened anxiously in the mirror as I hummed to myself and headed to the sink next to Emmeline to wash my hands.

"Hi," I said, meeting their gaze in the mirror.

"Kate…" Emmeline looked horrified – embarrassed, regretful, scared – but I would deal with her later. For now I just wanted to watch as Greta sniffed and stuttered and bit her lip.

"So, Greta – I didn't know you were a Legilimens," I said conversationally as I dried my hands. "Reckon you can tell what I'm thinking, do you?"

"I don't have to be a mind-reader to know you're fake," she said stubbornly.

I smiled grimly. "Read my mind now, why don't you?"

She wet her lips and stared at me before she finally huffed and averted her eyes.

"I'm going. See you Emmeline."

And then there were two.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a comb, running it nonchalantly through my hair as Emmeline gaped at me.

"Kate, I'm really sorry," she said.

"Sorry you were bitching about me, or sorry I overheard?" I replied stiffly.

"Both! You know I don't think you're fake. Greta just…I've known her ages – her mum's my mother's best friend. Greta just goes on and on and sometimes, it's just– it was…just…"

"Easier to go along with it?" I provided, putting away my comb and turning to face her.

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled.

I sighed. "Emmeline, I thought we were mates. What good does it do if you talk behind my back? If you have a problem with me – why wouldn't you just _tell _me?"

She shook her head furiously. "I don't have a problem with you! Not at all!"

"Did I push you into this with Remus?" I asked.

She looked close to tears now. "No! I don't know why I said that. I am _so _sorry."

I nodded and patted her shoulder, so she wouldn't fall apart. "Look, I get it – sometimes we can't help but get swept up with other people's opinions. It doesn't make you a bad person. I used to be the same way until I figured out that if people were happy to bitch _with_ me – it probably meant that they were happy to bitch _about _me too. I don't care if you think I'm fake, but what I _can't _deal with is you hurting Remus."

I stared at her intensely and she cowered under my gaze.

"I'm not going to hurt him. I don't even know if he actually likes me - I just said that in front of Greta so she wouldn't start in on him! Remus and I are just seeing how it goes for now." She looked at me pleadingly and though part of me wanted to slap some bloody sense into her, I just nodded.

"Sure."

"You're going to tell him, aren't you? That I was talking behind your back and what I said about Sirius." Her lip quivered and I closed my eyes.

Why was everything so supremely annoying? How come everything I touched exploded in a fiery crash? My plans were useless – and now I'd dragged Remus into things, I was responsible for how people treated him. How could I tell him that the girl who he'd been so excited to take to Hogsmeade, might prefer Sirius? I obviously wouldn't tell him that she'd badmouthed me – that would make me sound petty. But how could I allow this to go on when Remus – wonderful Remus – was only second best in her eyes?

"I don't know," I said truthfully and she turned away to wipe her wet eyes. "But it's a problem if you're just going to go after Sirius and ignore how brilliant Remus is. That's just going to hurt _everyone_ involved."

"I _really _didn't mean it," she said, with a little whine in her tone.

I didn't say anything in reply - just picked up my bag and exited the bathroom feeling miserable. So much for my better week.

I wrestled with my decision for the rest of the day. I didn't want Remus to be hurt, and I _definitely_ didn't want to be the one to do it. I also thought that maybe Emmeline just needed a chance to ease into her relationship with him. She would see that there was no way to compare Sirius and Remus – they were both lovely in different ways and in the end it boiled down to who she _wanted _to be with. Maybe she wanted to be with Sirius right now, but something might change and she'd want to be with Remus. Feelings switched on and off and changed constantly. It had only taken a moment for me to decide I fancied Sirius last year. I'd just thought of him as Remus' surly friend until he'd made one particular joke – one I couldn't even remember – and suddenly all the feelings came rushing to me at once. I didn't buy into all of that 'meant to be' crap – love was more complicated than that. You had to work at being with someone you liked – you had to choose to be with them and be open to the possibility of falling in love with them.

Later that day, Sirius, Peter and I were sitting together in the Common Room during our Free while the others had Potions, with me flipping thoughtlessly through WME and the boys playing Snap. Eventually Peter got grumpy with losing and went off to the dormitory to clean up and Sirius threw an arm around me.

"What's up?" he asked with a yawn.

"Mmm."

"Fascinating," he muttered, stretching. "Spit it out – you look miserable."

I sighed and covered my face and he groaned.

"What did I do this time?"

"Not you," I mumbled through my hands. "Heard some girls bitching about me in the loos."

He chuckled. "Is that new?"

I glared at him through my fingers and he sighed.

"Sorry – that sucks."

"They said I was fake and no one – especially you and your friends – could see through me," I sighed, curling into a ball and turning in my place on the sofa to face him.

He peered at me closely and tucked some hair behind my ear. "Well, true – you are remarkably opaque," he said, poking my cheek.

I laughed and swatted his hand away from my face. "One of them was Emmeline."

His eyebrow raised and he let out a whoosh of breath. "Really?"

"Yeah, but I think she just sometimes gets caught in situations where she finds it easier to talk shit instead of actually saying what she thinks. That's not even that part that bothers me."

He shook his head. "Weird. I always thought she liked you."

I shrugged. "I'm more worried about her response to Remus. I think she might not like him as much as he likes her."

Sirius' mouth twisted a little. "Do you reckon Remus likes her that much?" he asked offhandedly.

"I'm not sure, but she said – in not so many words – that she'd prefer to be with you," I said with a moan and he chuckled uncomfortably.

"Yeah…not to sound bigheaded or anything, but I never did think she got over me."

"Sirius!" I scolded. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I've learned not to argue with you when you've got an idea stuck in your head. And you wanted to fix them up." He sighed and rubbed his face. "Remus is going to be pissed."

"So, I _should _tell him?"

He shook his head. "No. I will, I guess." He groaned again and slumped against the sofa looking annoyed. "Bloody hell, this always happens to him," he muttered quietly.

"Maybe we shouldn't tell him," I said, twirling my hair nervously. "I shouldn't have been eavesdropping anyway. I don't think she really knows how she feels – maybe we should let them work it out."

"No," Sirius said firmly. "He needs to know. He can make his own mind up."

Just then James barged into the Common Room looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Ugh," he said, flopping into the armchair next to us.

"Something wrong Prongs?" Sirius asked, lightly.

"It's bloody…it's her. It's so _irritating_. I – agh – I try to be nice and ffff!" He gritted his teeth and folded his arms.

"Don't take it personally, James. Lily's been in a bad mood all day since she slipped in a puddle in the bathroom this morning," I said. "I'm sure she didn't mean to be so mean."

Sirius laughed and James shook his head.

"Not Evans! Dorcas!"

I frowned. "Dorcas was mean to you?"

He huffed and leaned forward, looking over his shoulder before he spoke.

"She's trying to get me to ask her to Hogsmeade!"

Oh. Bollocks – I was hoping he'd just end up asking her as a friend. I didn't know he'd be annoyed about it. I certainly didn't think he'd tell_ me_ that he was annoyed by it. Poor Dorcas – maybe Sirius and I ought to invite her along to the group outing. If Remus was going to end things with Emmeline, we could all just go as mates.

Sirius was still laughing. "She's a persistent bird – hasn't she let up yet?"

James groaned. "No! She keeps hanging off my arm, boring me to death with textbook explanations of Quidditch plays. _Why_ would she think I liked that?"

"Hey!" I said sharply. "Shut up. It's not _that _ridiculous – I once watched you read Quidditch Throughout the Ages cover to cover, twice in a row!"

James quirked an eyebrow. "Why do you always catch me doing weird things?"

"Because you're a weirdo!"

He rolled his eyes. "Look, Dorcas is usually cool – a mate. But she knows I fancy Evans – and she's _nothing_ like her. Can you talk to her and tell her to back off, Kate? She's nice and all, but such a swot. Never has a laugh about anything."

"Oi!" I barked, kicking him. "Don't call Dorcas a swot!"

"What? You call her a swot twice a day!"

"Well! She's_ my_ swot!" I snapped. "And if you have a problem with her – talk to her yourself! I've _had it_ with all of this behind-the-back bitching! Grow an effing backbone and tell her that you're not interested. Be a bloody Gryffindor, Potter!"

Sirius' arm shifted away from me as I shook with anger, and James looked shocked.

"I…"

"She overheard someone having a go at her in the loos earlier," Sirius explained. "Bit sensitive."

I scowled and sighed indignantly. "Talk to her, James."

He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair embarrassedly. "Fine."

"UGH!" I exploded, stomping up to the dormitories. I might as well lock myself in there – everything sucked. The Christmas holidays couldn't come soon enough. Bah Hogsmeade – who needed it? Who cared if no one had done Christmas shopping – it wasn't as if there weren't shops in our towns back home! Hogsmeade – 'a treat,' they said. 'It'll be fun,' they said.

The next day, nothing was noticeably different. If Sirius had told Remus, it didn't show – I noted that they were friendly as ever with Remus rolling his eyes when Sirius ruffled his hair on the way to Herbology. Dorcas still seemed smitten with James, so I assumed he hadn't had a chance to speak to her either. I was going to burst with the amount of secret conversations I was holding in. Once we got to Herbology, Dorcas leaned in towards Lily and I.

"So, James asked me to Hogsmeade."

What? I was going to murder that bloody broomhead – at the very least; I'd have to completely destroy his life. It would have to be something drastic – like breaking his broomstick or shaving off his mop of hair – or making him believe that Peter was Lily or something.

"That's great!" Lily said with practiced certainty, but her eyes darted to me.

"Well, it's a group thing," Dorcas explained and I exhaled slightly. "With Peter, and you and Sirius, Kate."

I just nodded because I was still silently plotting my revenge on James.

"Oh and I guess Emmeline and Remus? Do you think it's actually more of a group _date_ or what?"

I didn't want to give anything away, so I nodded again. So I wouldn't have to participate in her speculation, I pretended to be tremendously interested in my honking daffodil. Truth be told, it was an easy distraction. They were actually my favourite plant – what was not to like? Pretty flower – check. Hilarious sound – check. Potential for annoying everyone – check.

My daffodil gave a loud honk and I burst into laughter making Lily join in and Dorcas roll her eyes.

"You are so mad," Dorcas said rolling her eyes. "Kate, did he say anything about me?"

"Umm," I said, fiddling with a petal. "I don't know."

I glared over at James who was now grabbing hold of two daffodil plants and honking them repeatedly with very inappropriate innuendo. The Marauders were in stitches and he was grinning. He better laugh – he would be dead by the end of the week.

"Kate?" Lily prodded and I shrugged.

"Yeah, group thing," I said.

"You are so bloody frustrating," Dorcas sighed. "Can you tell? Does he like me?"

"Does he?" Lily asked.

"Merlin, I don't know!" I snapped. "Why don't _you_ ask James, Dor?"

She reddened and mumbled down at her textbook. "I don't want to embarrass myself."

One of Dorcas' many talents – along with being an excellent student and knowing just how to annoy me most – was her ability to look so miserable; it was impossible not to feel sorry for her. I watched as she fiddled with the pages and sighed heavily. At this rate I was going to get myself involved in everyone's relationships and given the current worrying climate of my Operation "Go out with Remus Lupin" idea – I really thought that wasn't the best idea.

"Why don't you go and ask him, Kate?" Lily suggested and I glared at her. She gave me a look and tilted her head to Dorcas, who was still looking at the table like it was the body of her dead owl. Lily nudged me again, more obstinately.

"Fine," I grumbled, getting up. "But after this, I want _nothing _to do with anyone's love lives. I'm a bloody jinx."

"It's not your fault Emmeline and Remus didn't work out!" Lily said. "He liked her – you can't help it if she didn't feel the same way."

I nodded and Dorcas gave me a small smile of thanks before I headed over to the Marauders' workbench.

"Hi," I said, and one of the daffodils honked loudly in response. Even the hilarity of the sound couldn't make me feel good about coming over there.

"What's honking Kate?" James said, winking and I folded my arms and glared at him. His expression shifted and he glanced at Sirius, who shrugged.

"And what have we done to offend you today?" James asked, leaning on the back legs of his stool.

"You _said_ you'd talk to her, James," I said in a low voice.

"I did! I made it clear that we are just friends," he replied, indignantly.

I frowned. "How clear?"

He looked puzzled and again looked at Sirius, who yawned. Honestly, did _anything _interest my bloody boyfriend? Other than snogging or two wheel car things and Fifth Years with fringes, I mean.

"I don't know, do I?"

I sighed. "Fine."

And then I turned to Remus. He was reading something in his textbook while his fingers played idly with the leaves of the plant in front of him.

"How are _you?_"

"See that?" James said to Sirius and Peter. "I get yelled at, and Remus gets pleasantries!"

Sirius chuckled. "You weren't the one who was scorned, mate."

Remus lifted an eyebrow and turned to the others. "You think I was _scorned?_"

"Heartbroken, even," Sirius grinned and I felt a jolt of alarm. He didn't _look_ heartbroken. Oh Merlin, he was probably dying inside and I was too thick to notice.

"Remus, I—"

He rolled his eyes and turned back to me. "He's joking, Kate. I'm fine. I didn't care about going to Hogsmeade anyway."

"What? Aren't you coming? I thought we were going in a group!" James said in alarm.

"Yes, so you can so _conveniently_ lead my friend on," I shot back and he scowled.

"Shove it, Kate."

"Oh kiss my ars–"

"Calm down children," Remus said tiredly, massaging his temples. "We'll all go as mates. Just a bunch of really, bloody,_ friendly_ mates." He suddenly stabbed his textbook with his quill and I jumped back.

"Yeah mate, you seem completely fine," Sirius joked and Remus rolled his eyes. Sirius' expression wavered a little and he glanced at me worriedly. Ah good – another thing that interested him – his mates being annoyed with him.

"You said you weren't pissed," he muttered and Remus' look of annoyance faltered.

"I'm not," he murmured back. "Not at you."

"Me?" I asked in anguish.

Remus laughed and the other boys joined in. He patted my shoulder and clicked his tongue.

"Not you either."

"It's me, isn't it?" James said, and we all laughed this time.

"So, what happened?" I asked, leaning on the table. Sirius gave me a warning look, but I ignored him. Remus shook his head too.

"Tell you later."

I surveyed him for a long moment as he returned to tending his plant, when it honked, I sighed and stood up straight.

"I'm holding you to that." I gave Sirius a similar look of 'I'll talk to you later' and he nodded imperceptibly.

By that evening I had already delivered the bad news to Dorcas – that James didn't see the outing as a date, and she was sulking up in the dormitory. Lily was in the Library with Archie, and Sirius, James and Peter were hanging out in the Common Room. Remus was missing – and I assumed it was because he was depressed and hiding. Sirius, useless fool that he was, had barely given me any info. He'd just said that he'd told Remus exactly what I'd told him Emmeline had said, and he'd seemed disappointed and annoyed – but not _really_ upset. And I didn't believe that for a moment.

"Don't push him Kate – I think his ego's just a bit bruised," he said when I brought up my concerns.

"Remus has no ego! This is just going to push him off the deep end of the proverbial self-deprecation pool. And it's all my fault," I groaned.

Peter rolled his eyes. "We all told you it was a bad idea – but you insisted."

"Where is he?"

"Probably sulking somewhere by himself. Leave him," Sirius shrugged.

James, however, pulled out an old piece of parchment from his pocket and tapped it with his wand, muttering a few words. I'd seen them use the manky parchment before, although they'd never let me look at it myself. They used it to see if the corridors were clear when they snuck out after hours and they were very secretive about the mysterious thing. It took a few minutes, but eventually James nodded.

"He's in that hidden alcove near the kitchens – you know the really roomy one? You've got to tap the wall twice with your wand."

I grinned. "Thanks James – you are officially out of my bad books for now."

"Thank Merlin – I was devastated," James said drily, tapping the parchment again and reaching for the pack of Snap cards.

As James promised, the wall shifted when I tapped it twice and there, in the dark, enclosed but fairly spacious alcove, sat Remus reading a novel under wandlight. It was a thoroughly depressing scene. I felt a jolt of regret for not getting a teacher on high alert – he was miserable. He looked up from his book in surprise and then sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to his novel.

"You know," he said casually. "When someone isolates themselves in a secret alcove – it usually means they want to be alone."

"I was worried," I said, joining him on the floor and nudging his shoulder with mine.

He sighed and muttered something under his breath but didn't say anything else, just continued to read in silence.

"Remus, you said you'd tell me what was wrong," I said gently.

He slammed the book shut and turned to me. His eyes looked uncharacteristically harsh.

"Kate, I don't want to lose my temper but I am so_ sick_ of this."

I frowned. "Of what?"

"You! Checking up on me!" he snapped.

My mouth fell open and I twisted the end of my skirt. I bit back an angry retort because I knew he was in a mood – but I was still annoyed. I was just trying to make sure he was all right – his mates seemed completely unconcerned.

"The lads know I don't want to talk it to death – why don't you?" he continued, still in that hard tone.

"Remus, I _care_ about you. And I feel like this is all my fault," I mumbled, looking away feeling the prickle of tears in my eyes.

He didn't say anything for a long time before finally he let out another huff of frustration.

"I'm sorry."

I shrugged.

"No, I just…I'm not in the best mood. I shouldn't take it out on you," he sighed.

I turned back to him, feeling my eyes dry up and gave him a small, sympathetic smile.

He chuckled bitterly and leaned his head against the wall with a thump.

"What happened, Remus?"

He shrugged. "Sirius told me that Emmeline might still be hung up on him and that she'd been bitching about you."

"I think that she just gets easily influenced by other people's opinions – I don't know if she really meant it. I wasn't sure if I should tell you, but Sirius said he had to," I muttered.

He nodded.

"She's not a bad person."

"No, she's not. She's a really fun girl, but I can't go out with someone who slags off my mates," he sighed. He looked like he didn't even mean the words. Maybe he'd really liked her more than he'd shown.

"You didn't end it with her just because she talked behind my back, did you? I don't care about that," I said.

He chuckled again. "That wasn't the only problem."

"Yeah – the Sirius thing. I should've checked – I just assumed she didn't care about him anymore," I sighed, running my hands through my hair. Ugh – from now on, any girl I tried to set up with Remus would have to go through the 'do you fancy any of his mates?' test.

"It's not your fault. To be honest, I'm not surprised it worked out this way," he said, thumbing through his book and opening and closing it. "I'm not much compared to him."

"Oh no – don't you do that self deprecating thing!" I said, punching his shoulder lightly. "You are just as good as him, Remus! You're just different!"

He smiled. "I'm not being self deprecating. It's just_ fact_ based on regular occurrences."

"How do you mean?"

He stared at the opposite wall.

"The girls I like – they always like him more."

"Not all of them!" I said lightly, touching his arm.

"I don't mind really," he said, shaking his head. "He's one of my best friends and he's been through a lot with his family and everything – I think he deserves every happiness he gets."

"You deserve happiness too," I said and tried to pat his hand, but he pulled it away and it settled in his hair.

"Maybe."

"Of course you do! You know you do."

He shrugged and I sighed.

"The next girl will work out better – I think Gemma Bl–"

His eyes widened and he shook his head furiously. "No!"

"But Remus–"

"No," he repeated firmly. "I can't. I don't want to go out with anyone else. I'm done with this project. I am fine being alone."

"I know but–" I protested.

"Kate," he pleaded. "Please. I can't take it anymore."

His expression was so hurt and frantic and it absolutely broke my heart. I should never have chosen Emmeline – she was too different from him. Quite apart from the Sirius factor, he needed someone who would take care of him and make him realize he was special – he needed someone who understood him. But he didn't want me to interfere anymore and even though I wanted to fix my mistakes, I couldn't very well ignore a direct request. Not from him – not when he looked like _this._

"Maybe in a while? After you've had time to mend."

"I mean it, Kate. I'm done pretending – I can't just try with _anyone_ anymore." And then he mumbled something so quietly; if I hadn't been right beside him I wouldn't have known he'd said anything else.

"What?"

He still didn't look at me, but his expression had become determined and stubborn. He repeated himself in an only marginally louder tone.

"I can't go out with anyone else, not when the person I like will never like me."

My heart imploded. Genuinely – it was shattered and throbbing in my chest. The pain was sharp, but it felt even less horrible than the look on Remus' face. I had ruined everything by picking Emmeline. Now he couldn't be with the person he liked – all because I hadn't had the sense to check that she didn't like his mate first.

"So – promise me: we're done with your experiment," he said gruffly.

I hesitated because promises were important between Remus and I. Sirius hardly ever kept his promises and I was sometimes just as bad – but Remus was different. He never broke his word.

"We're done," I said.

For now.

* * *

_A/N: Next chapter will be Hogsmeade and setting up events that will take place over the Holidays. I'm going to try my best to post it before I leave on Friday - so the break will be quite appropriate timing. Thank you so much for reading and following and favouriting. By the way - if you haven't seen, I have a one-shot up based on Bottle-Specs._


	21. How absurd this all was

_A/N: Hey guys - thanks for your reviews. I'm not a 100% thrilled with this chapter, but I will be back with a vengeance. For now, I hope you enjoy it._

* * *

Chapter Twenty One: How absurd this all was

"I can't believe I'm wearing this," Lily grumbled as we made our way down the path leading to Hogsmeade. "Remind me again why I'm wearing this bloody sack?"

I bit my lip and Dorcas coughed.

"Erm, you want to make your boyfriend happy?" she suggested.

"You've got a few screws loose?" I added with a smirk.

Lily shrieked and pulled at the sleeves of the medieval witch garb that she'd been forced to wear to attend the themed convention at Madame Puddifoot's. She was meeting Archie there, and had decided to walk down with us so that we could provide her with some cover. She looked…quite _awkward. _

"I look such a muppet," she groaned, fiddling with the loose fabric around her bust. The robes were spectacularly loose and didn't show off a curve and it made Lily look borderline pregnant – the Medieval witches were clearly not fashionistas. The tent-like shape was a garish, moss green colour and it was paired with an odd, braided hairstyle that Archie had shown Lily in one of the Medieval Convention pamphlets. The result was authentic, but it made Lily Evans – among the top ten best-looking witches at Hogwarts – look utterly ridiculous. It was a truly incredible feat.

"It's very realistic at least," Dorcas said. "Looks just like the drawings in our History textbooks."

"Yeah, Lillian the Lump should be your name."

"Shut up Kate!" she sighed. "I wish I could have gone as a Medieval muggle – at least their clothing was sort of flattering. How can Archie like this?" She flapped her arms and the loose material made her resemble a rather over-weight bird.

She started laughing embarrassedly and Dorcas and I took that as our cue to erupt into the giggles we'd been holding back since the castle.

We'd managed to go mostly unseen because we'd left the school after the majority of Hogsmeade visitors and so, Lily breathed a sigh of relief when the crowd of weirdos in front of Madame Puddifoot's came into view. No one's costume looked as ghastly as Lily's, but they looked silly enough for her to disappear amongst and not be given a second look. She squinted to look through the crowd for Archie, but a group of boys stepped into our line of sight.

"Oh Godric."

"No, no, no, no," Lily muttered frantically as she tried to duck behind us and out of the Marauders' views. James looked like Christmas had come early and Remus, who was back to his old self, broke into a sly grin as Sirius and Peter began howling with laughter and pointing. Several passersby turned to look, and now Lily was on full display, blushing as red as her hair. She muttered several obscenities under her breath and stepped into view with a resigned look, waving her hands in front of her in a 'Yeah, yeah, bring it on' gesture. They obeyed with delight and Sirius walked forward to throw his arm around my shoulders and survey her up and down.

"So…" Remus said with a smile. "D'you have something to tell us, Lily?"

It started the laughter up again and even though Dorcas gave them a pleading look to get them to stop, it became very infectious and I let out an uncontrollable chuckle of my own.

Lily smacked me and I winced.

"Oi, shut up – she's dedicated," I said half-heartedly, breaking into another unintentional chortle.

"Evans…" James said, shaking his head.

"Not a bloody word Potter. I mean it – say something and _die_," she snapped, glaring at him.

He grinned. "I've never seen you look more beautiful."

And then Lily oddly burst into laughter too and clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle the sound. James looked surprised, but smirked.

"Like forget Slughorn's party – or that time you took a swim in the lake last year before OWLS – this is how I want to remember you for the rest of my life," he said and she shook her head still covering her mouth.

"Stop. Please stop," she said, her voice tight.

Sirius' eyebrow has cocked upwards and he let out a bark of disdainful mirth. "You let your boyfriend see you in that?"

"Sirius!" I said, elbowing him.

"He chose it!" Lily sighed.

"He chose what you were wearing?" James asked, his eyes wide. "And you _let_ him?"

"It's a bloody Medieval convention isn't it?" she retorted. "I didn't know what to wear."

"Should've gone as a Medieval Muggle – at least they were sexy."

"I was going for authenticity – not sexiness!"

James laughed. "You know, I always thought you'd even look sexy in a potato sack, but now you've gone and proven me wrong."

"Leave her alone James," Dorcas said, her cheeks a little pink. She couldn't have loved all of his attention being focused on Lily, although surprisingly she wasn't letting it show – much.

"I know I look like a prat, but it didn't sound so bad when he explained the event to me," Lily sighed. "Oh, there he is. I better go. And tell him that this is the last time I go to one of these grotesque fancy dress things. Oh Merlin, what is he– oh, please don't look."

We turned around to face where she was looking and there was a moment of silence before my laugh cracked through the air wildly – loud and high-pitched. I couldn't breathe.

Because Lily was right – if she was something to laugh at – I was surprised my sides hadn't split open with hilarity at the sight of her boyfriend. He was shirtless and wearing a full-length skirt-like thing. It was as if he'd just chopped the top off his best dress robes and he had a long, matted wig on his head. Even the cold couldn't shake the proud look on his face. It was undeniably absurd, how pleased with himself, he looked.

When he saw us, however, he frowned and stopped in his tracks as we laughed at him and he waited, glaring at Lily. She shoved by us all and said under her breath, "Stop being so rude."

"End it with him Evans – truly, you deserve better," James laughed and she flipped him off before heading off to Archie and hurrying them inside with a large group of Convention attendees.

Once we'd settled at The Three Broomsticks and eaten lunch and ordered butterbeers, the conversation turned to Sirius' birthday, which took place on Boxing Day. James was having everyone over to his house to celebrate and spend the night camping out in his garden that apparently might as well have been the woods with how vast it was. It had been a tradition for the four boys since they had started at Hogwarts and this time Dorcas, Lily and I were invited too. Dorcas was beside herself with excitement, Lily wasn't sure she'd be able to come because Archie was supposed to be meeting her family then, and I was strangely nervous about the whole thing. I'd met James' parents the previous summer and they seemed very relaxed – that might mean looking the other way if Sirius wanted to share a tent with me like he'd suggested, and I was a bit terrified of that. Sure, we'd been alone in his bed several times – but there was something different about camping with your boyfriend as opposed to stealing a few kisses up in the school dormitory. I wondered if he'd considered what might happen. I wondered if he'd obsessed over it or thought very hard over what sort of underwear he might wear.

"I can't wait to be alone with you," he whispered quietly in my ear, pushing some hair behind my ear and I shivered. Yes. Yes, he was probably thinking what I was thinking. Although – probably not about his underwear selection.

"So Lily's going to be with Dodo Davies?" James asked, sipping his drink with a slight scowl. Dorcas' face fell a little and I shrugged.

"She said she would try and make it if he didn't want to spend the evening with her."

"Shame, my mum was looking forward to meeting her," he said quietly before his widened a little and he glanced at Dorcas. "You too, Dor."

I gave him a look but he ignored it. "She's not used to having so many girls around the place. You should have seen her face last summer when Sirius invited Kate over – I think she was ready to start planning their wedding. I've been a horrible disappointment bringing no girls home."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah right mate. Your mum thinks the sun shines out of your every orifice – she just wants you to settle down and find the right girl."

I smiled a bit at that and leaned in closer to Sirius, who absentmindedly squeezed me around the shoulders. It was nice to be considered 'the right girl,' even if it was only the opinion of James' mother and even though Sirius hadn't exactly said the words about me directly, it made me feel hopeful. Suddenly, he sat up straight and raised his arm to wave at someone.

Ah, of course – Lizzy. How silly of me to think I could be allowed to have a moment of an unwavering belief in Sirius' feelings about me.

"Liz!" Sirius called, waving her over. She was standing in the middle of the crowded pub all by herself looking a bit lost. Where was Friendly Dilys? When her eyes rested on us, she broke into a relieved smile and made her way over as James and Remus budged over and pulled a chair from another table for her to sit in. The Third Year they'd stolen it from glared, but just bit his lip and squatted beside his friends without complaint.

"Why's she all alone?" I asked, taking a swig from my bottle. Remus gave me a surprised look at then cocked an eyebrow at Sirius – I was starting to feel a bit uneasy. Why were none of the boys surprised that she was joining us?

"Oh, Dilys is ill so I invited her to hang out with us," Sirius said and my eyes widened.

Oh yes, thank you Sirius – it was so kind of you to inform your girlfriend that you would be bringing along the girl you almost kissed to our date. How thoughtful!

Remus exchanged a look with James, who shrugged and then the both of them busily got on with drinking their drinks.

"Didn't you tell Kate, Padfoot?" Peter asked and I gave him a nod of thanks. At least someone else thought it was odd that he'd kept the information from me.

"She doesn't care," Sirius shrugged and then glanced at me. "Do you?"

My eyebrows shot up and I swallowed, but then forced a smile. "Oh yeah – of course not."

"Remember the trust thing?" he said quietly into my ear and I nodded. The swoop in my stomach had nothing to do with his proximity this time – it was more irritation than anything. Yes, I didn't really care that she was tagging along – after all, it _was_ a group outing more than a date. But Sirius was right, he was trying to be more honest and open and so, I should at least attempt not to be a prat to Lizzy. Maybe we could even be friends one of these days. A day, very, very far in the future. Maybe when we were thirty.

Dorcas gave me a sympathetic look and I started to fiddle with the wrapper on my drink, preparing myself. I was a friendly girl; I just had to act like Lizzy was my mate, not my competition. It wasn't that difficult – at least she'd stopped stuttering around me – that simplified things a bit. Gave me less reasons to roll my eyes at her wide-eyed innocent act.

She had finally made her way through the crowd and stood behind the empty chair looking flushed and out of breath.

"It's a zoo in here today, isn't it?"

"Not unusual," Sirius said. "How's your mate?"

Lizzy looked worried as she sat down. "Throwing up pretty noisily in the dormitory this morning – she sent me away so I wouldn't get ill too. I took her to the Hospital Wing before I came down, though."

"Pomfrey's the best – she'll take care of her," Remus said and Liz smiled.

"Yeah, I hope so."

"Unless she has the bunny flu – then she's doomed. Remus is in there once a month."

Sirius chuckled a little weirdly and rolled his eyes. "You're exaggerating, Kate."

"More to the point," Remus said, shaking his head. "Bunny flu doesn't exist."

"That's what _you_ think," I said solemnly and Lizzy laughed.

"What are the symptoms?"

I tapped my chin and looked at Remus. "Well, if you're a bit scrawny and remarkably pale, and tired a lot, and your name is Remus John Lupin…then it's safe to assume that you have it."

"Thanks Kate, scrawny and remarkably pale - you really know how to make me blush," he said sarcastically.

"Oh no! I better go tell Pomfrey – Dilys is just a pseudonym!" Lizzy said, getting up from her seat.

Sirius laughed and I played along, reaching across the table to smack my hand down in front of her on the table dramatically. "Hurry! There's no time!"

"Nutters," Sirius said, reclining in the booth and smiling rather contentedly. Ah yeah, it must have been a picnic, watching his two girlfriends have a laugh together. Bloody prat.

Lizzy chuckled and turned to Remus. "Haven't they cured you yet?"

"Of catching Kate-sanity? No, as you can probably gather – it's quite infectious," he replied before muttering disbelievingly, "Bunny flu, she says."

"Don't worry Liz, I appreciate your acceptance of my madness. The rest of them keep fighting it," I said, leaning back against Sirius' arm and nodding to Dorcas. "Dorcas is particularly resistant."

She sighed. "If I ever let myself be seduced by your ridiculousness, do promise to avada me and make it quick."

The day was weird. Liz and I got on fine – she got pretty talkative when the boys started discussing Sirius' plans for his motorcycle and a few times, they unintentionally seemed to forget Dorcas and I were there. Liz even had comforting words for Remus, telling him that Emmeline had been expressing her regret over their short-lived romance all week. She made James laugh when she insisted that they send a spy to Slytherin Quidditch team practices and she made Peter's day by complimenting the haircut he'd apparently just gotten. Sirius seemed to just watch her with awe, sharing excited smiles with Dorcas and I, as if we were supposed to be as impressed with Lizzy's ability to assimilate with the group. It wasn't that – I actually _was_ quite fascinated with how different and relaxed she seemed around us than she had a few months ago – but the problem was, I was jealous. And I wasn't jealous of her connection with Sirius this time – I was jealous of it all. How James and Peter didn't seem annoyed when she teased them, or how they seemed to think she was the nicest person they'd ever met. She was the shiny new toy and I was the old ball and chain and I absolutely hated it. That used to be _me_. Eventually, she even won Dorcas over because she was a fan of Celestina Warbeck and although Remus had rolled his eyes conspiratorially at that one, I couldn't let it lift me from my gloom. I forced the smiles and the laughter when the others did, but I don't think I spoke a full sentence for a whole hour.

Eventually, someone noticed. Of course, it was Remus. He leaned over to talk to me quietly while Sirius and James were telling Lizzy about the time the three of us had got detention with Prewett for dueling too over-enthusiastically with some of his Dark detectors. They seemed to have conveniently forgotten that I had been involved, and my expression of irritation must have been hard for him to miss.

"Want to ask Rosmerta if she'll put on The Ghouls?" Remus said and I nodded eagerly. Anything to get away.

"Where you going?" Sirius asked, as I stood up from the booth to join Remus.

"Going to ask if Rosmerta will play some good tunes," I explained.

"Not The Ghouls," he laughed. "Do you want everyone in here to commit multiple suicides?"

"Would you notice?" I asked, quirking my eyebrow and glancing at Lizzy as she listened to Peter's story. Sirius' brow furrowed and he turned away coldly without another word.

I ordered us a couple of shots of firewhisky before anything else. Rosmerta looked around for Hogwarts teachers before she nodded and poured the drinks. She was only a couple of years older than us, so we knew her from Hogwarts and the Marauders were obviously clear favourites of hers. I got along with her pretty well too because I had once spent a whole afternoon asking her all about her business – it was really valuable for my plans to open my own pub one day and Rosmerta was only too happy to help. She was lovely.

"Hide them though – I know you two aren't of age yet."

"We won't tell," Remus grinned before passing her the Ghouls record. "You couldn't put this on for us, could you? Kate's having a bit of a shocker of an afternoon."

"Is that the depressing band you like?" she replied. "Remus love, you know I adore you, but I've got to keep the customers happy and The Ghouls aren't exactly a wireless hit."

"Just the one song – no one's going to argue with you over one song. I won't let them," he insisted with a coaxing smile.

Rosmerta gave him a bit of a soppy smile and I found that my expression was quite similar. Funny that I'd never noticed that Remus could be charming – the kindness overwhelmed it, but the grin was knowing, and it was strangely attractive. I'd never really seen him that way before – maybe all of this experience with girls had actually made him more confident. Go Remus!

"Oh all right then," Rosmerta said, taking the record and going over to the gramophone to put it on with a silly expression on her face.

"Remus, you operator!" I said, elbowing him. "That was quite attractive."

His eyes widened and he frowned. "What?"

"You – persuading Rosmerta."

He laughed embarrassedly. "Shut up, Kate."

I smiled and downed my shot when The Ghouls started to play around the pub. It let the irritation ease a bit and I was glad to have a clear head once more. So, Lizzy was the center of attention for once – I couldn't really complain. I got more than my fair share of notice; I didn't have to be grumpy about it.

"Are you upset?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Not really."

"You know I'd tell you if I thought you had something to worry about with her," he said, nudging me as I gazed at Sirius. He had moved to Remus' place so he was closer to Lizzy, and I nodded doubtfully.

"They really are mates."

"Yeah. I guess I'll have him to myself on his birthday," I muttered. When I looked at Remus, he was grimacing.

"Didn't he tell you that she was coming?"

What! She was invited too? Why?

I didn't say anything because I was just letting the fury bubble slowly over my skin and into my veins. How dare he? What about the possible tent encounter? At least I had my answer now – he obviously hadn't given it another thought once he'd brought it up. I was so sick of this. This required drastic intervention – an ultimatum – something that would tell me once and for all if Sirius really had chosen me and wasn't just dangling me around and stringing her along at the same time. Was he in love with her? Was he even in love with _me?_

"They're just mates," Remus repeated, but I ignored him and stomped over to the table.

"Sirius – I need a word."

He looked up and seemed to catch on immediately. The others fell silent and hung their heads, looking anywhere but at me. Dorcas twisted her eyebrows together questioningly, but I shook my head. He gave a heavy sigh, but got up and followed me out of the pub without protest.

"Well?" he asked when we were out on the pub's porch. A group shoved past us and the door swung open again to reveal our mates leaning away from the table. They were all watching interestedly until Remus muttered something and they looked away in unison. Only Lizzy's eyes lingered and the blood boiled a little hotter. When the door shut, Sirius sighed and leaned against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Is this about The Ghouls suicide comment?"

My mouth fell open at his stupidity and I glared at him.

"You invited Lizzy to our date!" I snapped quietly, feeling the fury bubble through me. It increased tenfold when he chuckled humorlessly.

"Call this a date? You, me and four of our friends?"

"It started out that way!" I said. "I didn't think you'd invite your other girlfriend along!"

He moved away from me and his eyes became that cold grey that I so disliked. He wasn't going to roll his eyes at this one.

"What is_ wrong _with you?"

"Me?" I barked back angrily.

"I thought you were getting along – becoming friends!" He threw his hands up and paced in front of me as I laughed bitterly.

"Oh yeah, I loved watching you stare at her so devotedly – it really turned me on," I shot back cuttingly. He looked incredulous, and I braced myself for the yelling.

"How many times do I have to say it before you get it through your thick head?" he said furiously. "She's my mate – _just _my mate. Dilys is ill and she had no one to spend the day with. And since she's coming to my birthday, I thought it would be cool if she hung out with us beforehand so it wasn't awkward."

"You are a lunatic!" I exclaimed. "When have you _ever _shown so much concern about someone other than your lads? When have you even showed this much interest in _me?_ Don't you bloody see it?"

"See what?"

"That you're in love with her!"

He laughed mockingly. "Actually, I'm with _you _in case you forgot."

"This isn't fair, Sirius," I said shaking my head. "Not to me or to her."

He stared at me for a long while and I clenched my fists so they would stop shaking. What the hell was going through his head? How could he not see how absurd this all was – why was he catering to her every whim and still trying to convince me that he didn't feel anything for her? I didn't understand him at all.

"You know what's not fair," he said quietly. "That you give me a hard time about being mates with her, when our friendship is no different to yours with Remus. And he's one of my _best _mates."

I stepped away and stumbled on the steps.

"It is _completely_ different! _Completely_."

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I'm _done_ with this crap. I take a lot of shit from you Kate – but I'm drawing the line. She is my friend and you are my girlfriend and it would be really bloody nice if I didn't have to fight for that every second. It is so _boring._"

My eyes started to water and I looked away so he wouldn't see. I took a few calming breaths and tried to figure out what to do. He didn't give me enough time to think though, because he had moved forward and pulled me to him.

"Hey, don't cry," he said apologetically, wiping away the moisture on my cheeks. "I hate it when you cry."

I just whimpered back and let more tears fall and he sighed laboriously.

"Can't you just be okay with this?"

I bit my lip and made another unintelligible sound.

"This was supposed to be easy," he muttered, his face buried in my hair. "You and me were supposed to be fun and carefree. You were never the jealous type – what happened?"

The cry that came from my mouth was embarrassingly loud and pained and he squeezed me tightly.

"Don't make it difficult, please Kate."

He moved away and wiped away my tears again. "Please?"

I stared at his eyes – taking in how tired they looked. His stance was as defeated as mine – we were drowning and couldn't let go. It was time to prepare myself for the inevitable. But why couldn't I form the words? Why couldn't I just cut him loose, so he would be free to figure out his feelings for her? Well the answer was obvious – regardless of how he acted, he continued to insist that it was _me_. Me, who made sense; Me, who he wanted. Maybe it was because Lizzy never asked him to choose – maybe it was because he was lazy like me and the thought of trying to start up a whole new relationship was exhausting. And maybe it was because, for so long, I had told myself that I was lucky that Sirius Black wanted me. No matter how miserable we made each other sometimes, I still couldn't shake off the feeling that I wouldn't get lucky like this again.

When you get the most popular, desired boy in school, you fight to keep him – right? You keep fighting even if the fight didn't seem worth it, because it _had_ to be worth it. I needed it to be worth it.

"Okay," I said, drying my face and giving him a small nod.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"Okay – I won't make it difficult."

He stepped back and appraised my expression. "Is this another test? Are you actually breaking up with me and making it sound like we're fine?"

I chuckled and patted his cheek tiredly. "No, we're not breaking up. You're not off that hook yet."

* * *

_A/N: You can probably tell that Sirius/Kate will be coming to an end pretty soon and although Lizzy is a part of it all, she's not the reason for their breakup, although it may seem that way now. Some more things will happen before Remus/Kate starts up, but it will come to pass very soon. Now I'm off on my holiday on Friday, so no more updates until August - but come back around the 5th and hopefully I will have something new up. Thank you all so much for reading and your patience - see you in a few weeks!_


End file.
